ISTANBUL, October 21. /TASS/. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has confirmed that Fethullah Gulen, the ringleader of the FETO organization declared terrorist by Ankara, has died in the United States.

"Our intelligence sources confirm the news," he said after talks in Ankara with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha. The speech was broadcast on the social networks of the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

"The leader of this dark organization is dead. Our nation’s determination in the fight against terrorism will continue. This news will not lead us to relaxation or complacency," Fidan noted. He called FETO "a machine that recruited our youth and betrayed sanctities." "These people are used by the intelligence services as weapons against their values. I call on them to renounce this betrayal. This path is not a good path," said Fidan, who headed Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization for many years.

Earlier, the Herkul portal close to Gulen and Turkish TV channels reported the death of the preacher in a clinic in Pennsylvania (the US) on October 20. The 83-year-old Gulen had lived in the United States since 1999.