French genocide bill discriminatory and racist: Turkey PM

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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday slammed as discriminatory and racist a bill passed by the French Senate making denial of the Armenian genocide a crime.

"The proposal adopted in France is tantamount to discrimination, racism and violates freedom of thought," Erdogan said in the parliament during an address to his fellow deputies.

He insisted the bill was 'null and void' for his country and warned his government would announce unspecified new measures if the bill were signed into law.

"We will step by step implement our sanctions without any retreat," Erdogan declared. "We'll publicise our action plan according to the developments on the ground."

The French Senate on Monday approved, by 127 votes to 86, the measure which makes it an offence punishable by jail in France to deny that the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turk forces amounted to genocide.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose right-wing UMP party put forward the bill, now has sign it into law.

Erdogan sounded more moderate than expected in his parliamentary address, saying that Turkey still maintained the hope that France would repair its mistake.

"We have not yet lost hope," he said. "We must be patient," he said, urging French intellectuals and the French public not to remain silent over this "racist approach."

Ankara froze political and military ties with France when the lower house backed the bill last month and promised further steps if the measure were finally adopted.