from A.KHAN

To say that the Gezi Park protests, Dec. 17 incidence and phone tapping scandal are a CIA operation is not right. The U.S. administration and its leaders have a very good relationship and understanding with their Turkish counterparts.

Therefore, Mr. Gülen is not a CIA asset. Mr. Gülen's real host in the U.S. is the powerful Israel lobby. The Israel lobby, represented in the U.S. by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), took care of Mr Gülen's needs vis-a-vis the U.S. administration. The whole idea of helping Mr. Gülen was to use him one day against an unfriendly Turkish government – unfriendly not to America but to Israel or to the agenda set up by the Israel lobby. The success of the zero problem basis of Turkish foreign policy mostly depends on a peaceful and just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. In the opinion of Turkish policy makers, this can reduce tension in the region and enable every member country to employ its resources in a positive direction. In their opinion, once peace is reached between Israel, the Palestinians and other Arab neighbors, it will be a win-win situation for every country including Israel. However, for the strong Israel lobby in the U.S., peace sounds like a death knell for Israel. For its part, the Israeli lobby believes that constant confrontation with Israel's neighbors can result in Israel becoming strong and on occasion get the opportunity to expand too; peace with its neighbors will result in a weak Israel with no chance of territorial expansion. The zero problem policy did not sit well with the Israel lobby, hence they began to test Mr. Gülen and he did not hesitate to express his support in response to their demands. This was the start of a division between Gülen and the AK Party government led by Mr. Erdoğan. Mr. Gülen has established his credentials with the Israel lobby. They threw the bait and he bit. The lobby thinks that if it is not successful in removing Prime Minister Erdoğan from power, at least Mr. Gülen's efforts through his Turkish media networks and other resources have brought about considerable damage to the Turkish economy. A weak economy will one day help in developing a negative image of Erdoğan. Mr. Gülen is, in all probability, an AIPAC asset.