WASHINGTON
American neighbors of Fetullah Gulen are concerned about the secretive life of the Turkish preacher, Anadolu Agency learned Wednesday.
Gulen, who is named in six lawsuits in Turkey for attempting to establish a parallel state -- or a quasi-state there -- lives on a large farm estate in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania.
Anadolu Agency was unable to record the sprawling complex that surrounded by fences and, the quarters where Gulen is believed to reside, is nestled among towering trees.
The "Golden Generation, Worship and Retreat Center" is also protected by armed security guards.
Speaking to the Anadolu Agency, a couple living a few hundred meters from the Gulen estate, expressed concerns about the secretive complex.
“Everybody in America is very open. You can drive on the property, you can look around. You can do anything,” said Peggy, 70, who declined to provide her last name.
She said the Gulen group suddenly erected a fence around the estate and built a gate.
“All of a sudden you thinks: well, what’s back there that I don’t see? Everybody else sees everybody,” she said.
She added that along with her husband, they have seen newspaper stories about affairs linked to Gulen and the group he leads. It has left the couple with “an uneasy feeling” about the preacher and his estate.
There have been demonstrations against the group, she said. “They feel uncomfortable for not knowing what is going on there.
“We have reconnaissance airplanes over there all the time. They take pictures of the valley,” she said, referring to the area where Gulen estate is located.
Peggy’s husband, who didn’t give his name, said U.S. government representatives are always in contact with those living on the estate with Gulen.
He urged Turkey to remove Gulen from his neighborhood, noting concerns about the group.
A Palestinian owner of a fuel station near the Gulen estate told Anadolu Agency that he has been inside the complex once, for iftar dinner, but said that he could not see Gulen in person.
Iftar is the meal with which Muslims break their fast at night during the month of Ramadan.
Declining to provide his name, the man said he asked those inside the complex whether he could see Gulen.
“He is busy with writing something. You cannot meet him right now, they told us,” he said.
A man who identified himself as Rick, and a “state agent” for Corporate Security Services in the area, said his company has not had any indication that Gulen’s group poses any threat to the area but acknowledged he does not know what is going on inside the estate.
Rick declined to disclose if the government conducts surveillance on the group.
Turkey has accused Gulen of forming a terror group, FETO /PDY, also known as a parallel state structure, to topple the government in Ankara.
Bureaucrats linked to Gulen reportedly played a crucial role in a December 2013 probe into senior Turkish government figures, including former ministers, regarding allegations of corruption.
Gulen is also the main suspect in a December 2013 mass wiretap probe that targeted more than 7,000 individuals, including journalists, government officials and celebrities.
Since early 2014, investigations into the parallel state have resulted in the arrests or reassignment of hundreds of civil servants, including police and public prosecutors.
