With similarities in ideology, the AKP and the Gülen Movement have long maintained an alliance, with the latter using their judicial influence to limit opposition from Turkey's secular establishment to the AKP's religious conservatism. Traditionally cosy relations between the AKP government and the Gülen Movement turned sour in late 2013 after Gülen criticised the government's response to the Gezi Park protests and their policy of closing down Gülen's private "prep-schools".[1]