Turkish Prime minister slammed the French draft of Armenian genocide as discriminatory and racist, warning to impose unspecified sanctions against Paris.

Turkish Prime minister slammed the French draft of Armenian genocide as discriminatory and racist, warning to impose unspecified sanctions against Paris.

"The proposal adopted in France is tantamount to discrimination and racism, and it violates freedom of thought," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an address to his lawmakers in parliament.

As he described the bill as "null and void”, he warned that his government would punish Paris with retaliatory measures if French President Nicolas Sarkozy signs it into law.
"We will implement our sanctions step by step, without any retreat," Erdogan declared.
"We'll publicize our action plan according to the developments on the ground."

However, "We have not yet lost hope," said Erdogan. "We must be patient," he added, urging French intellectuals and the French public not to remain silent over what he called a "racist approach."

The measure, approved by a vote of 127 to 85 in the French Senate, makes it an offence punishable by jail to deny the Armenian genocide.

For his part, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe appealed to France's "Turkish friends" for calm as Turks reacted furiously to the Senate's approval of the bill Monday.
Juppe, speaking on French television Tuesday, said: "I'd like to appeal to our Turkish friends for calm and extend my hand to this great country, this economic and political power."