The French action can be explained as part of President Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign to be reelected president of France later this spring, U.S. expert on Turkey Michael Gunter believes.
"As soon as the French presidential election is over, things will return to normal and the Armenian case again put on the back burner. The pathetically low number of MPs who even voted on this latest attempt by the French to legislate history reveals that it is really simply an unpopular publicity gimmick at the expense of Turkey," U.S. expert, Professor of Tennessee Technological University Mr Gunter told Trend on Wednesday.
After eight hours of discussion, the Senate (upper chamber of the French parliament) voted for adoption of the law criminalising denial of the so called "Armenian genocide". Some 127 senators voted for, while 86 against.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey was preparing new sanctions against France.
Earlier, the Lower House of the French Parliament adopted a bill criminalising the denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide" on Dec.22, 2011
Some 45 out of 577 French MPs voted with 38 voting for and seven against the adoption of the bill.
The bill demands about a year's imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros for denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide".
MPs from the French President's Union for Popular Movement (UMP) party which has the parliamentary majority, proposed the bill which aims at criminalising denial of the so-called "Armenian 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.
Mr Gunter said adoption of this law accounts for the fact that "there are many more Armenian voters in France than Turkish plus Turk-bashing can be popular with the French electorate eager to blame others for France's financial problems. As in the past there will be no permanency to this".
He also noted "the recent vote by the Lower House of the French Parliament to criminalize denial of what it terms "the Armenian Genocide" is simply the latest chapter in the seemingly never ending dispute over this issue".
"Thus, this French bill will not end the Turkish EU accession. Neither will it permanently damage relations between France and Turkey," Mr Gunter said.
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