France first Western nation to recognize Armenian
genocide
Thumbs up to France for being the first major Western nation to
officially recognize the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Turks
from 1915-1923. Though the United States had a similar opportunity
to acknowledge the genocide in a bill introduced to Congress in
October, officials shrunk from the issue, fearing damage to
diplomatic relations with Turkey.
Turkey belongs to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the
U.S. maintains military bases in the country that are valuable
because of their proximity to volatile regions in the Middle East
and Israel. Members of Congress and former President Bill Clinton
caved under pressure from the Turkish government.
It is ironic and appalling that leaders of the most influential
nation in the world espouse human rights, but are willing to
overlook an atrocity that wiped out 1.5 million people.
Other countries ““ especially Turkey ““ will not
recognize the genocide or force history to be accurately rewritten
if countries like ours don’t take the lead. When governments
turn their backs on the dark sides of the past, they cast a shadow
of danger on the future: a fear that it could happen again.
In 1994, 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda within a matter of
months in an ethnic cleansing allowed by the inaction of the
international community. Many governments, including the United
States, did not want to call this incident a genocide either.
It is important to recognize genocides and call them by that
name, because under international law, it obligates other nations
to intervene and allows for reparations. Admitting the Armenian
genocide should not negatively affect foreign relations with the
modern Turkish government, though.
For example, Germany was forced to pay considerable amounts in
reparations for the Holocaust and other crimes carried out during
World War II but it currently enjoys positive relations with the
United States and other major world powers. Turkey depends too much
on the United States for economic and military support to actually
follow through on their threats if Congress were to pass a bill
recognizing the genocide.
We all know what word describes the killing of more than 1.5
million people of the same ethnic background. How sad that
languages have to have a word to describe such a thing. And how sad
that we’re afraid to use it.
Cheaper summer school good, lack of sufficient financial
aid bad
Thumbs up to the state of California for subsidizing summer
classes, thus allowing UC students to attend summer school at a
significantly lower cost. By lowering the cost of attending summer
school, the university hopes students will graduate sooner.
Getting students through the university quickly is important,
given that we will soon have to deal with Tidal Wave II, an
enormous growth in enrollment involving 60,000 students over the
next decade. Making summer school fees comparable to the regular
year will enable students who could not previously afford it to
take summer classes.
The UCLA Financial Aid Office fears because of the fee decrease,
more students will take financial aid in the summer, leaving less
to go around. The office estimates the decrease to be in the
neighborhood of $50-$100. Though the benefits of significantly
reduced summer fees outweigh this financial aid loss, it will
nevertheless hurt students who depend on financial aid to cover
their school fees.
Now that the university has found another way of dealing with
the expected growth in enrollment, it must ensure that its current
students are not hurt by it. The UC must take action to allow
students to attend summer school at a lower cost without
subtracting from the financial aid available the rest of the
academic year.
Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down represents the majority opinion of the
Daily Bruin Editorial Board. Send feedback to [email protected].