AK Party–Gülen movement conflict

The political conflict between the AK Parti-ruled Turkish government and the Gülen movement began in 2013.

With similarities in ideology, the AK Party and the Gülen Movement have long maintained a mutual non-aggression pact, with the latter using their judicial influence to limit opposition from Turkey's secular establishment to the AK Party's religious conservatism. Traditionally cosy relations between the AK Party government and the Gülen Movement turned sour in late 2013 after Gülen criticised the government's response to the Gezi Park protests, the corruption scandal and the government's policy of closing down Gülen's private "prep-schools".

The disagreement between the government and the movement escalated into a skirmish, with then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accusing the Gülen Movement of trying to bring down the government by using their influence over the judiciary to cause a government corruption scandal (known as the 17-25 investigations due to the dates on which it occurred). The government subsequently responded with large-scale reforms to the police and judiciary forces to purge Gülen's sympathisers from their positions. The conflict has been referred to as a coup attempt by pro-AK Party commentators and as a purge of judicial independence by critics.

Branding the movement as a 'parallel structure' and accusing Gülen of setting up an 'armed terrorist group', the government's efforts to purge the influence of the Gülen Movement has become a mainstream issue in Turkish politics and has sparked nationwide concerns over judicial independence and growing government authoritarianism in Turkey.