In remarks to journalists last week, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu acknowledged that Turkey’s image in the Western media had turned negative, but argued this was all a plot. “There is an international media network in the world. We are doing our best, but this network has made a decision to finish off Turkey’s success story and demonize President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan. That’s their objective. They have moved against Turkey as if a button was pressed after 2010, that is, after the 'one-minute' incident in Davos.”

In other words, Davutoglu basically suggested that pro-Israeli domains, infuriated with “New Turkey” for its brave defense of the downtrodden Palestinian people, were behind Western criticism of Erdogan.

Notably, this argument is not merely Davutoglu’s personal view, but virtually an official position adopted by the Justice and Development Party (AKP). Over the last two years, we have come to hear this propaganda from party spokesmen and AKP media almost on a daily basis. We are being told that the AKP has become the target of shadowy Western quarters because it is the protector of oppressed Muslims.

But is that true?