A new French law making it a crime to publicly deny the Ottoman Empire's genocide of Armenians a century ago was ruled unconstitutional Tuesday by France's Constitutional Council. The measure, which triggered condemnation from modern Turkey, was given final passage by the French Senate and signed into law by President Nicolas Sarkozy last month. Sarkozy's office immediately issued a statement calling for a new version of the law "taking into account the decision of the Constitutional Council." "The president believes that genocide denial is intolerable and must be punished in this regard," the statement said. The country's highest judicial body reviewed it at the request of National Assembly members and French senators.
@highlight
"A grave mistake has been corrected," the Turkish Foreign Ministry says
@highlight
"The Council deems the law unconstitutional," France's highest court says
@highlight
President Sarkozy calls for a new version of the law addressing the court's concerns
@highlight
Turkey denies genocide and says the deaths resulted from World War I fighting
The Turkish government called it "an example of irresponsibility" and vowed to "express our reaction against it in every platform" when the bill passed the @placeholder -- the lower house of the French parliament -- in December.