The move by France to include a chapter on the 1915 Armenian Genocide in high school history textbooks has elicited a severe response by Turkey’s European Union Minister Egemen Bagis.

Bagis urged the French to re-examine their understanding of their own national motto - liberty, equality and fraternity.

“I hope they will soon realize this mistake and correct it,” he said, while delivering a speech at a meeting arranged by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA).

“Turkey does not know what genocide is. Turkey knows the phrase ‘peace at home, peace in the world,’ as the founder of our republic Ataturk said. We try to provide peace all around the world; we try to give love,” Bagis said.

Tahsin Burcuoglu, Turkey’s Ambassador to France, has also criticized the French move to include chapters in history and geography textbooks that will allow students to study mass killings of Armenians at the hands of Ottomans in 1915.

Burcuoglu said Turkey will determine its position on this issue after further examination and urged Turks living in France not to remain indifferent to the issue.