Azernews.Az

Parliament Vice-Speaker Bahar Muradova has voiced Azerbaijan’s support for Turkey, its long-standing ally, saying her country "has always stood and will stand by Turkey".

Some Turkish media have played down Azerbaijan’s response to the French Senate's recent passage of a bill criminalizing denial of the alleged genocide of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey, accusing the country of failing to condemn the move.

Muradova told a news conference Monday that Azerbaijan "deems all steps taken toward Turkey as ones taken toward itself".

"Our suggestion to those studying whether or not Azerbaijan stands by Turkey is that they shouldn’t do this useless work," she said.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry earlier said Baku strongly condemns the law on the alleged genocide adopted by the French parliament. Also, the Azerbaijani parliament appealed to the French Senate over the issue in late December.

The vice-speaker said the Azerbaijani government and parliament continue their efforts to block passage of the "genocide" law.

"We are opposed to the law, which reflects historical injustice," Muradova said. "Very unfortunately, the law, tabled on French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s initiative, was passed in parliament."

The bill, approved by France's upper house of parliament on January 23, makes it illegal to deny that the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I were genocide. The bill 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. The draft law must now be signed by President Sarkozy within two weeks to become law. However, if 60 lawmakers and senators challenge the decision in the Constitutional Court, the document may be further put on discussion there.

Turkish officials believe that by putting the "genocide" issue on discussion in parliament, the French president is trying to secure the votes of up to half a million ethnic Armenian voters at this year’s elections.

Turkish Ambassador in Baku Hulusi Kilic has said some forces are seeking to sow discord between Turkey and Azerbaijan.

"There is a feeling that the French and the Armenians have been set aside, and some other forces want to harm relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey, and they should be ashamed," Kilic told an event dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Turkish-Azerbaijani diplomatic relations on Monday.

"People with bad intentions, under the guidance and direction of others, want to harm relations between the two countries," Kilic said.

Kilic said that just like Turkey, Azerbaijan opposes the passage of the "genocide" law, noting that the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, the Milli Majlis (parliament) as well as civil society organizations have expressed their protests in this regard.