Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb.29 /Trend/
Turkish President Abdullah Gul expressed his attitude to the decision of the Constitutional Council of France to repeal a law criminalizing the denial of so-called "Armenian genocide".
Gul said the Constitutional Council saved France from disgrace by repeal of the law, Turkish website SABAH reported.
France has won the trust by this decision, Gul said.
"It's a shame to use this issue in the pre-election campaign. Constitutional Council prevented this disgrace," Gul said.
The Constitutional Court of France repealed a law criminalizing denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide" on Tuesday.
The Council justified it by the fact that the law contradicts Article 33 of the Constitution of France and freedom of speech.
Following this decision, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered the government to prepare a new bill criminalizing denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide".
On Jan 23, after an eight-hour debate, the Senate adopted the bill criminalizing denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide". Some 127 senators voted in favor, while 86 voted against.
The bill demands a year's imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euro for denying the so-called genocide.
Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that the predecessor of the Turkey - Ottoman Empire had committed the 1915 genocide against the Armenians living in Anadolu, and achieved recognition of the "Armenian Genocide" by the parliaments of several countries.