One of the reasons for which I have supported the Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the past decade was its challenge to Turkey's deep-seated xenophobic nationalism. From the impasse in Cyprus to the rights of minorities such as Kurds, Armenians and other non-Muslims, the AKP dismissed chauvinistic bigotries and took boldly reformist steps. It also accelerated the European Union accession process and integrated Turkey deeper into the global economy.

For these same reasons, the AKP has been condemned repeatedly by secular nationalists as an "American puppet" or "capitalist compradore." A best-selling anti-AKP book of 2007 even argued, seriously, that Erdogan was a "crypto Jew" working with the Elders of Zion to undermine Turkey's "full independence."

However, things have taken an incredibly dramatic turn since the outburst of the Gezi Park protests in May 31. Erdogan, wondering why his whole nation does not love him unequivocally for all the great things he has done, soon found the real culprit behind the anger in streets: "foreign powers" and their collaborators such as "the interest (loan) lobby." The more extensively the foreign media, such as CNN International and The Economist, covered the protests and criticized the government's heavy-handed response, the more Erdogan and his followers became convinced about an ill-intended "foreign hand" behind the masses.

Yeni Safak, one of the prominent newspapers within the pro-Erdogan media, took the lead in this new narrative. First, the paper ran a headline which exposed the "Zello organization" as one of the insidious forces behind the protests. Others soon pointed out that Zello is indeed used by some protesters for communication, yet it is not an organization but a company with an iPhone application similar to those of Twitter or Viber.