THE aftermath of the attempted coup in Turkey on July 15th has been fertile ground for conspiracy theories. Pro-government newspapers have alleged that CIA agents directed the coup from an island in the Sea of Marmara; that a retired American general wired billions of dollars to rogue Turkish soldiers; and that the United States directed Turkish forces to kill Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. An Islamist daily called Germany an enemy state, and pictured its chancellor, Angela Merkel, in a Nazi uniform.
The surge in anti-Western sentiment is widely shared. One poll found that 84% of Turks believe that the coup-plotters received help from abroad; more than 70% suspect America of having a hand. Mr Erdogan and his ministers have accused the West of double standards, and warn of a serious deterioration in ties unless the United States extradites Fethullah Gulen, the Pennsylvania-based Islamist cleric whom they blame for orchestrating the coup. A senior American official complains that using Mr Gulen as the only yardstick for bilateral ties puts the relationship at risk. Mr Erdogan does…