Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan.25 Trend M.Aliyev/
Baku refused to cooperate with the French NGO
Center of Youth Education has taken concrete steps with regard to adoption of the law criminalizing the denial of so-called "Armenian genocide".
The center has officially refused to cooperate with three NGOs operating in France, with which it has been working for several years, Ministry of Youth and Sports told Trend on Wednesday.
In this regard, the official information on the termination of cooperation was sent to the opposite side and was stated that there can't be any youth exchange with a country that adopted such a law.
"Along with the fact that the law opposes freedom of speech and expression, it does not meet international legal standards as a product of totalitarian thinking. We send our young people to France to participate in various activities every year. Now, we can't endanger them due to unfair and illogical law," the information stated.
Center urges other Azerbaijani NGOs to refuse to cooperate with organizations in France.
The French Senate - Upper House of parliament adopted the bill. Some 127 senators voted in favour, while 86 were against on Jan.23.
The lower house adopted a bill criminalising the denial of the genocide on Dec.22.
Some 45 out of 577 French MPs voted with 38 voting for and seven against the adoption of the bill.
The bill demands a year's imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euro for denying the so-called genocide.
MPs from the French president's Union for Popular Movement (UMP) party proposed the bill aimed at criminalizing the dneial of the so-called 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.