Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan 13 /Trend A.Taghiyeva/
France, as the co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must remain neutral and not support any of the conflicting parties, a member of the French Senate Nathalie Goulet said in an interview with Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.
"The adoption of the bill criminalising denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide" is really offering support to Armenia. This is unacceptable for the co-chairs of the Minsk Group," Ms Goulet, who is also an assistant to the chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Group, Turkey and France said.
She said more and more MPs in the French Senate are opposed to the bill criminalising the denial of so-called "Armenian genocide".
"Turkey must have faith in the French Senate. We support Ankara. Everyone knows whose interests this bill served, so a group of senators is campaigning to prevent its adoption. If the Senate adopts the bill we can appeal to the Constitutional Court" Ms Goulet said.
It is expected that the Senate will include this bill on the agenda on January 23.The French Parliament adopted a bill criminalising the denial of a fictitious "Armenian genocide" last week.
Some 45 out of 577 French MPs participated in the voting, with 38 voting for and seven voted against the adoption of the bill.
The bill demands about a year's imprisonment and a fine of 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 the 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 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.