APPEASEMENT NOT LEARNED
Jeff Leieritz

Daily Aztec, CA
May 1 2008

Genocide should be a clear-cut issue. Genocide is defined by Encarta
as: "the systematic killing of all the people from a national, ethnic,
or religious group, or an attempt to do this." It seems pretty obvious
that this is something that should not be condoned, right?

Not always.

>From 1915 to 1923 the Ottoman Empire murdered 1.5 million Armenians
and forced another 500,000 from their homes, virtually eliminating
the Armenian population in what is now Turkey. The genocide was
recognized by France, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany and Russia, but
the United States has essentially no comment.

Last year, House Resolution 106 was introduced to acknowledge the
genocide of Armenians. The bill was passed by the Foreign Affairs
Committee to the floor of the House but was never voted by the full
House of Representatives.

Turkey is an important strategic ally in the war in Iraq. Fearing
a strain in relations with Turkey, President George W. Bush made it
clear that his administration does not support the resolution. Both
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert
Gates urged members of Congress to vote against the bill.

Not recognizing the slaughter of 1.5 million people is
ridiculous. During World War II when Hitler first began his mass
murdering, the world took a similar stance. The name given to
our initial ignorance of the Holocaust was appeasement. Neville
Chamberlain, former prime minister of Great Britain, was a proponent
of the attitude that allowed Hitler to forcibly annex Austria and
part of Czechoslovakia without opposition. Chamberlain believed that
conceding seemingly small things to Hitler would quench his thirst
for power. This obviously proved untrue. While the first concentration
camps opened in 1933, war was not declared on Germany until it invaded
Poland in 1939. Politics were placed in front of morally correct
action, resulting in the slaughter of millions of innocent people.

While the genocide of the Armenians happened nearly a century ago,
is it not another form of appeasement to act as if it did not happen
for the sake of current political gain? It is. While it will not save
lives, it is still imperative that we acknowledge the past actions
of Turkey. Congressman Ed Royce, a member of the Foreign Affairs
Committee, expressed this sentiment exactly: "To the critics who say
that we should not dwell on history, I say it’s much harder to get
tomorrow right if we get yesterday wrong."

Genocide remains a very real issue today. In my lifetime, there has
been genocide in Africa, Iraq and Eastern Europe. If we are to fight
against genocide today or hope to eradicate it from the future, it’s
essential that we recognize when and why it has happened in the past.

We cannot hope for an end to ethnic violence if we refuse to
recognize or condemn it. We must acknowledge shortcomings of the
past so that they do not occur in the future. Edmund Burke said
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do
nothing." If we refuse to recognize and oppose the evil of genocide,
we are cooperating with it.

-Jeff Leieritz is a political science and business management junior
and a contributing columnist.

-This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Daily
Aztec. Send e-mail to letters@thedailyaztec.com. Anonymous letters
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