Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a short statement before the French Senate’s discussion of the bill criminalizing denial of genocides.

Erdogan claimed that the bill contradicts human rights and damages French-Turkish relations, Hurriyet newspaper reports.

“It is difficult to understand why Sarkozy uses the decision which should be made by historians for his political purposes. Today the Senate will make a decision. Based on that decision, we wil make ours,” the Turkish PM said.

To note, on December 22 the French National Assembly adopted the bill criminalizing the denial of genocides, including the Armenian Genocide. The French Senate will discuss that bill on Monday.