Azernews.Az

A law criminalising denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide" adopted by the French Senate contradicts freedom of speech and opinion, Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Hulusi Kilic told journalists on Wednesday.

He said this law is the result of a game comprising a small group of politicians and does not comply with democratic principles in France. Therefore, adoption of such a law is a stain on the French people's history.

"We, as the Turkic world, condemn and take it as disrespect to us. France is not empowered to judge Turkey," Kilic said.

The Turkish ambassador added that the Senate’s decision calls into question France’s mediator mission as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group brokering settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh.

France's upper house approved a bill late on Monday making it illegal to deny that the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I were genocide, sparking ire from Turkey and praise from Armenia.

The Senate passed the bill - which allows for a potential one-year prison sentence and a fine of up to 45,000 euros for those who deny that genocide took place - by a vote of 127 to 86. The bill, passed last month by France's lower house, the National Assembly, must now be signed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy before it can become law.

Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that the predecessor of the Turkey - Ottoman Empire had committed the 1915 genocide against the Armenians living in Anadolu, and achieved recognition of the "Armenian genocide" by the parliaments of several countries.