The UK Home Office has issued a fresh version of its guidance for asylum caseworkers on Turkey’s Gülen movement, once again underscoring mass prosecutions, credible allegations of torture and Ankara’s pursuit of dissidents living in exile abroad.
For about a decade Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen and his followers, once praised by Ankara for their work in education and interfaith dialogue, have faced government accusations ranging from orchestrating corruption probes in 2013 to masterminding a failed coup in July 2016. The government designated the movement as a terrorist organization in May 2016.
Gülen and his followers have strongly denied any involvement in the coup or any terrorist activity but have been the subject of a harsh crackdown for a decade, which intensified in the aftermath of the abortive putsch. Gülen died in the US at the age of 83 in October 2024.
The 41-page Country Policy and Information Note (CPIN), updated in August 2025, is part of a series first introduced in 2016, following the failed coup in Turkey. The notes are regularly updated and serve as a key reference for asylum decision makers handling claims by Turkish nationals. The latest edition states on its version page that minor changes in wording were made to last year’s text, but it retains the same central conclusions about risk and persecution.
According to Turkish government figures cited in the report, the crackdown on the Gülen movement has led to more than 693,000 legal cases since 2016, with 122,632 people sentenced, 97,139 acquitted and over 12,000 still in prison as of mid-2023. Investigations remain ongoing into nearly 68,000 others. In addition, some 125,000 civil servants have been dismissed and more than 230,000 passports cancelled, measures the report describes as systematic restrictions on basic freedoms.
The report shows evidence from rights groups and international monitors of torture and ill-treatment, particularly in the aftermath of the coup attempt. It cites the European Commission’s 2022 Turkey Report, which documented a rise in “credible and grave allegations of torture and ill-treatment” that occurred in detention centers, prisons, police vehicles and even on the streets, mostly during demonstrations.
The US State Department’s human rights report for 2022 is also referenced, noting that people accused of Gülen links were “more likely to be subjected to mistreatment, abuse or possible torture.” Allegations included denial of access to lawyers and medical care, prolonged pretrial detention and severe overcrowding in prisons. Ankara, however, continues to strongly deny such claims, insisting its actions are lawful and proportionate.
It also notes Ankara’s campaign of transnational repression, citing UN findings that more than 100 individuals have been abducted abroad and forcibly returned to Turkey, where many reported torture and abuse. By July 2023 Turkey had sent 1,271 extradition requests to 112 countries, with 126 people handed over, the report said, citing Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç.
The note also refers to European monitors, including a June 2023 resolution by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which criticized Turkey for relying on renditions, abusing extradition proceedings, INTERPOL Red Notices and anti-terror financing measures and co-opting other states to deport or transfer persons unlawfully.
The UK guidance stresses that the degree of risk varies according to factors such as an individual’s profession, prior arrests, alleged use of the ByLock messaging app, ties to now-closed Gülen-linked schools and charities and even family connections. “Each case must be considered on its individual facts and merits,” the CPIN states, while noting that protection is generally not available inside Turkey when the feared harm comes from the state.
ByLock, once widely available online, has been considered a secret tool of communication among supporters of the movement since the coup attempt despite the lack of any evidence that ByLock messages were related to the abortive putsch.
In a landmark decision, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled in 2023 that Turkey’s use of the ByLock messaging app as well as bank accounts and labor union membership as criminal evidence to be unlawful. Yet, this and subsequent ECtHR decisions did not change Turkey’s judicial practices.
Rights groups and international observers have repeatedly criticized the breadth of the crackdown on the Gülen movement, which has resulted in the dismissal of some 130,000 civil servants, sweeping up judges, prosecutors, military officers, teachers and police cadets.
Following the failed coup, the Turkish government declared a state of emergency and carried out a massive purge of state institutions under the pretext of an anti-coup fight. More than 24,000 members of the armed forces and over 4,000 judges and prosecutors were among those removed by emergency decree-laws subject to neither judicial nor parliamentary scrutiny.
By keeping the 2025 note largely unchanged, the Home Office signals continuity in its stance, noting that mass arrests, due-process concerns and cross-border repression remain defining features of Ankara’s approach to the Gülen movement nine years after the coup attempt. The UK guidance reiterates that, apart from Turkey, no state party to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) has designated the Gülen movement as a terrorist organization.
In addition to the thousands who were jailed, scores of other Gülen movement followers had to flee Turkey to avoid the government crackdown and sought asylum in Europe, north America or other countries.