Ignoring Turkish protests, the French lower house of parliament approved a bill on Thursday making it a crime to deny Armenians suffered a Genocide in 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the vote would hurt ties between the two NATO allies and analysts warned that it would complicate Turkey's efforts to secure European Union membership. "French-Turkish relations, which have developed over centuries ... have been dealt a blow today as a result of the irresponsible false claims of French politicians who do not see the political consequences of their actions," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement, reports Reuters.