ANKARA—The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement in response to Switzerland’s decision earlier this week to appeal a European Court of Human Rights ruling that concluded that the denial of the Armenian Genocide is not a crime and is protected under freedom of speech principles.

“In a judgment published on December 17, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had ruled that Switzerland breached Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights on ‘freedom of expression’ in the case of Doğu Perinçek v. Switzerland,” reads the Turkish Foreign Ministry statement.

“We have learned through the written statement by the Swiss Federal Office of Justice on March 11 that Switzerland has decided to object to this judgment and refer it to the Grand Chamber of the ECHR,” added the foreign ministry.

“Having full confidence in the rule of law, we expect that the Grand Chamber will confirm once more and forcefully that “freedom of expression”, which is the building bloc of democratic societies, is safeguarded,” said the statement.

“In this way, we believe that the efforts to politicize the law will be aborted once again,” concluded the statement.