Published on August 18, 2019. This article introduces Masayuki Takayama’s Korea and the Media Shamelessly Tell Lies, examining Western media criticism of Turkish President Erdoğan, Turkey’s EU accession issue, and the Armenian genocide controversy, while arguing that Japan must also deal decisively with the history war over Nanjing and the comfort women issue.

August 18, 2019.
Japan, too, must take this as Ji-zan no Ishi, decisively and properly deal with Nanjing and the comfort women, and win the history war.
To put it plainly, Japan must grab the Asahi Shimbun by the scruff of the neck and make it clean up its own mess.
The following is from the latest book by Masayuki Takayama, the one and only journalist in the postwar world, published by Tokuma Shoten on June 30, 2019, under the title Korea and the Media Shamelessly Tell Lies.
It is a book that every Japanese citizen must read, and they must go at once to the nearest bookstore to buy it.
It is also a must-read book for people throughout the world, and as for this, though I am ashamed of my poor English ability, I wish to make it known to as many people around the world as possible.
Western media, which began criticizing Turkish President Erdoğan.
The president of Turkey used to resemble the president of Germany.
He was a mere ornament, with no political power at all.
His only job was to bow his head in place of the prime minister when making the excuse that the Holocaust, which in truth everyone had committed together, had been “done by the Nazis.”
He did not like that.
In the national referendum of April 2017, in which Erdoğan asked whether he could become a president with powers comparable to those of the United States, he won splendidly.
Trump sent his congratulations, saying that this was a matter for celebration, but on this mere domestic issue of Turkey, American and European newspapers, as if they had gone mad, hurled an extraordinary barrage of criticism, such as the revival of a dictator-sultan.
In addition to standard phrases such as “Turkish democracy is dead,” the criticism thrown at him had two points in common in every newspaper: “We can no longer share values with Turkey,” and “Turkey’s EU accession negotiations must now be halted” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of Germany).
In fact, until just yesterday, all those newspapers had praised him, saying “Erdoğan is a fine leader,” and, as a member of NATO, “he has done well.”
The about-face began during that refugee uproar, when Erdoğan said that it was time to settle once and for all the question of Turkey’s EU accession, which had been left unattended for many years.
Europe has its true feeling: “The EU is a gathering of white Christian states. It is wrong to think that an Islamic state can enter it” (Financial Times).
So, the moment Turkey brings up accession negotiations, harassing arguments immediately emerge, such as that “recognizing the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians during the First World War is the starting point of Turkey’s democratization.”
It is a story like the Nanjing Massacre for Turkey, and the Turks will never swallow it.
This time, the European Parliament also followed up by adopting a resolution that “the tragedy of the Armenians should be called genocide,” the Pope called it “the first genocide of the twentieth century,” and the German parliament adopted a resolution to the same effect.
Each time, Turkey becomes angry, and the talk of EU accession fades away.
This national referendum means that a majority of the Turkish people expressed the will that “EU accession is enough already. We are sick of you.”
On the one hand, the EU feels relieved that it no longer has to worry about Turkey’s accession, but if Turkey begins to move on its own, the Middle Eastern framework and Russia’s moves will become impossible to foresee.
In addition, there is also the anxiety that, if Turkey feels like it, the refugee problem may flare up again.
It serves them right, but Japan, too, must take this as Ji-zan no Ishi, decisively and properly deal with Nanjing and the comfort women, and win the history war.
To put it plainly, Japan must grab the Asahi Shimbun by the scruff of the neck and make it clean up its own mess.