Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan 9 /Trend A.Taghieva/
Turkey is not afraid of its history and is ready to begin the discussion, but in this case Armenia should open its archives, said Minister of Turkey's relations with the EU Egemen Bakhish. "Turkey has always called on Armenia to open their historical archives. Other countries that agree or disagree with the position of Turkey in this matter, should open their archives along with Armenia and Turkey," the Minister said.
Bakhish expressed confidence that the decision of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to launch a campaign to spread the bill to criminalize the law on "Armenian genocide" among other European countries will not be taken seriously by EU countries.
The French Parliament adopted a bill criminalizing the denial of a fictitious "Armenian genocide" last week.
Some 45 out of 577 French MPs participated in the voting, while 38 voted for and seven voted against the adoption of the bill. The bill demands about a year's imprisonment and a fine worth 45,000 euros for denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide."
In response to this decision, Turkey announced about the freezing of all diplomatic relations with France. MPs from the French President's "Union for Popular Movement" (UMP) party, which has the parliamentary majority, proposed the bill, which aims to criminalize denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide" to the legislative committee of the National Assembly in early December 2012.
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.