On January 23rd, after lengthy and heated debate the French parliament passed a law (127 parlamentarians against 86) on criminal responsibility for denying the Armenian genocide. The law provides for imprisonment up to one year and a fine of 45 000 Euros.

The law passed by the parliament will be approved by the country's president Nicolas Sarkozy, since from the outset he spoke approvingly of the initiative. More so that under the existing law he has no right to veto a bill passed by both the houses of the parliament.

The adoption of this law caused outrage in Turkey and Azerbaijan, where protest rallies are held and threats are made.

Earlier Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he would refuse to travel to France if the country's parliament adopts a law on the Armenian genocide, which contradicts accepted in the civilized world principles of freedom of speech.

The issue of adoption of the law on the Armenian genocide has gone beyond the usual argument and it may cause serious diplomatic demarche of the governments of Turkey and Azerbaijan against Armenia and France. Although, there are all prerequisites that other countries will also get involved in this confrontation.