Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday slammed as discriminatory and racist a bill passed by the French Senate that makes denial of the Armenian genocide a crime.
"The proposal adopted in France is tantamount to discrimination, racism and violates freedom of thought," Erdogan said in parliament.
Turkey denounced the Senate's passing of the bill, which makes it an offence punishable by jail in France to deny that the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turk forces amounted to genocide.
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"We strongly condemn this decision which is... an example of irresponsibility," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a written statement, adding that the government would not hesitate to swiftly implement retaliatory measures.
Ankara froze political and military ties with France when the lower house backed the bill last month and promised further steps if the measure were finally adopted.
The bill must now be signed into law by President Nicolas Sarkozy -- whose right-wing UMP party put forward the measure.
