Fethullah Gulen: MAJOR POLICE INCIDENT at Pennsylvania home of exiled Erdogan rival

A security guard at the compound fired a warning shot at a suspected armed intruder, forcing him to flee.

Mr Gulen’s media adviser Alp Aslandogan said: “Just one shot was fired.

“The person disappeared. The incident is over as far as we’re concerned.”

Mr Gulen was inside his residence on the compound at the time.

The police were called afterwards, a Gulen spokesman told local news broadcaster WNEP.

The spokesman added that no person was injured during the incident.

Local reporter for WNEP, Carmella Mataloni, said: “Lots of State Police outside the Turkish compound near Saylorsburg.”

Residents in the area were told to stay inside as police searched for the assailant.

There was a huge police presence with a helicopter above Turkish Imam and founder of the Gülen movement Fethullah Gulen’s compound.

Police, who left the scene a short time later, did not respond to requests for comment. A local television station, WNEP, reported that police were still searching for the suspected intruder.

The incident is currently being investigated.

Mr Gulen is accused by the Turkish state of masterminding the failed 2016 Turkish coup d’etat to overthrow Recep Tayip Erdogan.

Rogue soldiers commandeered tanks and fighter jets, bombing parliament. More than 240 people were killed in the violence.

Gulen denies the accusations.

His compound is patrolled by a team of uniformed private security guards, some of them armed with handguns.

Erdogan has repeatedly demanded that the United States extradite Gulen to Turkey, straining relations between the two NATO allies. Washington has asked for more compelling evidence of Gulen’s involvement in the attempted coup.

A US evangelical pastor, Andrew Brunson, has been held under house arrest in Turkey after authorities charged him with links to Kurdish militants and Gulen supporters, an accusation he has denied. That case has become a key issue in the worsening diplomatic conflict between the two countries, leading to US sanctions.