The Turkish press reports that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has sent a letter today to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, warning of “grave consequences" to bilateral relations if French lawmakers pass a bill criminalizing the denial of the 1915   Armenian genocide next week.

"I want to express this clearly," Erdoğan said. "These steps will lead to grave consequences for the cultural, economic and political relations between France and Turkey, and the responsibility of these consequences will fall on those who initiated those steps,” the letter reads according to today’s Hurriyet. 

Erdoğan further said such a bill would be seen as directly "targeting the Turkish state, the Turkish nation,   

According to the newspaper, the letters goes on to say that the Turkish community in France still has fresh memories of the assassinations of Turkish diplomats and statesmen by Armenian militants. 

"We should not enslave our bilateral relations to the wishes of a third party," Erdoğan said. "This is a serious, sensitive issue. It is important that common sense prevails over political aims." 

Turkey’s Ambassador to France, Engin Solakoglu, is reported to have told AFP that he is expected to be called back to Ankara for an indefinite period as of December 22, the day of the vote.