Appalling things happened to the Armenian people, appalling atrocities were committed, said UK Premier David Cameron speaking in the PACE.

Asked by a Turkish delegate about the bill criminalizing the genocide denial adopted by the French Senate, Cameron stressed that UK’s position is clear.

“Our position on the issue raised is clear. Appalling things happened to the Armenian people; appalling atrocities were committed. It is important to state that, but we have to live in the present,” he said adding that UK had on occasion passed legislation that had looked back – making it possible to prosecute people for appalling war crimes.

Prime Minister said development of relations with Turkey meets the interests of the EU states.

“If we want to demonstrate how Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu and Sikh can all live together, having a predominantly Muslim Turkey inside the EU is the right thing to do.

I therefore profoundly believe that we should work on the relationship between Turkey and all European states, but in the end it is up to each individual European state, including France, to make up its own mind about how to approach that,” he added.