Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.23 / Trend, M. Aliyev /
The Azerbaijani Parliament's Speaker called the French National Assembly's decision on the so-called "Armenian genocide" unreasonable, ill-conceived and a weak policy.
"This step is taken not against Turkey, but firstly against France. The Armenians are poor people who cannot control themselves. They are controlled by others. I would like to believe that the French President will not approve the decision of the National Assembly," Azerbaijani Parliament's Speaker Ogtay Asadov said on Friday.
The Azerbaijani government, parliament and people will always be close to Turkey, he added.
On Thursday, the French parliament adopted a bill criminalising denial of the so-called "Armenian Genocide".
Some 45 out of 577 French MPs participated in the voting, 38 of which voted for, while seven voted against the adoption of the bill.
The bill envisages about one year imprisonment and a fine worth 45,000 euros for denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide".
MPs from the French President's "Union for Popular Movement" (UMP) party which has the parliamentary majority, proposed a bill which aims at criminalising denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide" to the legislative committee of the National Assembly in early December.
Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that the predecessor of Turkey - Ottoman Empire had committed the 1915 genocide against the Armenians living in Anadolu and to date has achieved recognition of the "Armenian Genocide" by the parliaments of some countries.