Turkey has accused France's presidential rivals Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande of exploiting the Armenian Genocide issue to “seduce its sizeable Armenian community” ahead of the second presidential run-off, Today’s Zaman reports.

A statement released by the Turkish Foreign Ministry has said statements by the rivals are “another example of exploiting of controversial historical issues for political calculations.”

The statement said it is “unfortunate that the history is politicized based on various goals” and that “discriminatory behaviors won’t help justice and understand history better.”

Turkey urged French politicians “to exercise restraint as statesmen” and said “it is impossible to get results from outside artificial imposition in a subject where relevant states should reach a solution.” The statement added that similar statements are “detrimental to peace efforts in the region.”