Istanbul (CNN) -- One of the world's most powerful Muslim preachers lives behind a gated compound in the small, leafy town of Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. 

The reclusive Turkish cleric's name is Fethullah Gulen. 

If you believe the Turkish government, supporters of this cleric in Pennsylvania are spearheading a coup attempt in Turkey that is destabilizing one of America's most important allies in the Middle East. 

In recent weeks, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a religious conservative, has compared Gulen and his supporters to a virus and a medieval cult of assassins. 

Meanwhile, in an interview with CNN, a top official from Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, called the Gulen movement a "fifth column" that had infiltrated the Turkish police force and judiciary. 

"We are confronted by a structure that doesn't take orders from within the chain of command of the state," parliament member and deputy AKP chairman Mahir Unal told CNN. "Rather, it takes orders from outside the state." 

Who is this mysterious man in Pennsylvania? 

The 72-year old imam went into self-imposed exile when he moved from Turkey to the United States in 1999. 

He rarely speaks to journalists and has turned down interview requests from CNN for more than two years. But in a rare e-mail interview published in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, Gulen denied any involvement in a political conspiracy. 

"We will never be a part of any plot against those who are governing our country," he wrote, according to The Wall Street Journal. 
Who considers Gulen  a virus?
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a religious conservative, has compared Gulen and his supporters to a virus