After the French National Assembly’s passing of the bill that criminalizes the denial of the Armenian Genocide, Turkey’s Minister for EU Affairs, Egemen Bagis, again made a tactless statement, but this time with respect to French President Nicolas Sarkozy. 

Egemen Bagis criticized France for passing this bill, and compared Sarkozy to Pinocchio. “There was a fairy tale. Pinocchio’s nose grew whenever he told a lie. And now [the same] in France. The heels of the shoes of someone are growing whenever realities are distorted,” Bagis said.

To note, the French National Assembly passed Thursday the bill that criminalizes the denial of genocides. But the bill still needs to be approved by the French Senate. The bill sets a one-year prison sentence plus a 45-thousand-Euro fine for anyone who denies genocides. And in reprisal to the passage of this bill, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Turkey’s eight-point sanctions imposed against France.