ANKARA. – Turkey’s FM Ahmet Davutoglu addressed a conference attended by Turkish diplomats. 

He reflected on the French National Assembly’s passing, on Thursday, of the bill that criminalizes the denial of the Armenian Genocide, and noted that if the Europeans do not claim their values, Turkey would claim them.    

“I appeal to the French Senate: 50 of French National Assembly’s 577 MPs have placed a live grenade before the Senate’s entrance. Now the Senate, the intellectuals, and the politicians of France are facing a test. I appeal to the Armenians: Anyone who left Anatolia is our diaspora. Our ambassadors will go wherever there is even one Armenian, [and] they will speak with them on our shared history,” Ahmet Davutoglu stated, Hurriyet daily of Turkey informed.     

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, and the respective discussions could last several months. 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 at the French National Assembly, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Turkey’s eight-point sanctions imposed against France.