Istanbul (dailynewyorknews)  – Turkey reacted angrily Tuesday to the French Senate’s approval of a law criminalizing denial of genocide, as the Armenians at the end of the Ottoman Empire.

“Hung in History” and “Guillotine thought,” echoed the first two pages of Turkish newspapers. “He killed the democracy,” said another newspaper, Hurriyet, next to a picture on the front page of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

In the race for Monday night’s vote in the French Senate, the Turkish government has made no secret that he was fiercely opposed to the French law, the alert can cause permanent damage to the Franco-Turkish relations.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement before dawn on Tuesday condemning the law. Later, however, Turkey angry prime minister surprised some observers when he called a “period of patience” in a televised speech.

“There was an error … the story can not be found or written by parliament,” said Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in his speech to lawmakers of his party in political power.

Report the French law as racist and a “slaughter of freedom of thought,” Erdogan added: “We have lost our hope also that this error can be corrected.”

The Turkish leader said his government would push a petition with 60 signatures from French lawmakers to block the law by the Constitutional Council of France.

Under French law, “those who have publicly denied or trivialized crimes of genocide”, he could face one year imprisonment and / or a fine of 45,000 euros.

The law does not specifically mention World War I slaughter of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Armenians by Ottoman Turks. But most of the debate of seven hours Monday in the French Senate report focused on the Armenian genocide.

A few minutes after the vote of 127 to 86 in favor of the law, in Paris, Foreign Minister of Armenia issued a statement of gratitude to France, said that “a true defender of universal human values.”

“This day will be written in golden letters,” writes Edward Nalbandian.

Every year, Armenians worldwide commemorate the 1915 slaughter of more than 1.2 million people of Armenian origin.

The Turkish government rejects the term “genocide” to refer to this dark and bloody chapter in history. Many Turkish politicians and historians argue that the Muslim Turks were killed by Armenian militia in the last days of the Ottoman Empire.

Instead, Ankara goes political issues of paramount importance and threats to try to block initiatives in the U.S. Congress long-term formally the killings of Armenians as “genocide.” The United Nations defines genocide as death, injury, or removal of members of a national, ethnical, racial or religious group with intent to destroy the group.

After the French parliament’s lower house approved the Law on Genocide in December, Turkey has temporarily withdrawn its ambassador in Paris and has suspended military relations with France.

Turkish politicians have warned of new sanctions against France if Sarkozy allows the new law comes into force.

But in an interview with CNN on Monday, the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Turkish Parliament deliberately avoided saying what those measures might be.

“There is always an ambiguity in politics and diplomacy,” said Volkan Bozkir. “There will be some (measures) … This will hurt France more than Turkey,” he said.

Turkey and France with experience of more than $ 14 billion in bilateral trade last year. They are also partners in the NATO military alliance.

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/24/world/europe/turkey-france-armenia/index.html?hpt=ieu_c2