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Armenian National Committee
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David Phillips Refuses to Disclose Author of Report

At a brown bag lunch on March 29 at New York University’s School for
Global Studies, David Phillips discussed what he saw as the results
of the Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission, which he moderated
and wrote about in his book, Unsilencing the Past. TARC generated
world-wide Armenian opposition in both the Diaspora and the Republic
of Armenia for its role in interfering with international efforts to
gain recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

During his talk, Phillips highlighted a report, which the International
Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) commissioned an anonymous author
to write. The report alleged that the United Nations Convention on
the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide could not be
retroactively applied to the Armenian Genocide. The author of this
report has remained unknown. When Phillips was asked who wrote the
report, he answered, “That will not be disclosed,” and would not
explain the reasons for keeping the author’s name a secret.

Phillips was joined by International Center for Transitional Justice
Legal Expert Paul van Zyl, who asked Phillips whether denying the
applicability of the Armenian Genocide to the UN Convention on Genocide
was not the same as denying theapplicability of the Holocaust to it,
as both genocides occurred before the Convention was adopted by the
United Nations. Phillips insisted that it was not the same thing,
referring to documents Bernard Lewis had shown him in an attempt to
shed doubt on whether the Armenian Genocide occurred. On June 21,
1995, a French court condemned Lewis for his statements denying the
Armenian Genocide in the French press.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress