Turkey has accused France of committing genocide in Algeria more than 60 years ago.

The charge from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday comes a day after French lawmakers passed a bill making it a crime to publicly deny as genocide the mass killings of Armenians during the Ottoman era in Turkey nearly a century ago.

Armenia says 1.5 million Armenians were killed during World War One by troops of Turkey's Ottoman Empire, which historians say was one of the 20th century's worst massacres. Turkey, while acknowledging the loss of Armenian lives, says the death toll has been exaggerated and does not amount to genocide. It says the deaths were the result of civil war.

Prime Minister Erdogan on Friday responded to the bill's passage by alleging that French colonialists massacred 15 percent of Algeria's population beginning in 1945.

The measure passed Thursday by France's lower house of parliament says anyone who denies that Ottoman Turks massacred Armenians in 1915 during the first World War can be fined nearly $60,000 and face up to a year in jail.

The legislation now goes to the French Senate for consideration.

Mr. Erdogan said Friday that the bill's passage is a clear example of how racism, discrimination and anti-Muslim sentiment have reached new heights in France and in Europe.

Turkey has recalled its ambassador to France, and is banning the French navy from using Turkish territorial waters. It also has imposed restrictions on the use of Turkish air space by French military aircraft.

Mr. Erdogan has accused French President Nicolas Sarkozy of pandering to the hundreds of thousands of French citizens of Armenian descent heading into his reelection bid next year.

France expressed regret about the Turkish reaction in a statement issued by French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, who called France and Turkey strategic partners. Both countries are members of NATO.

Relations between France and Turkey have been frozen for some time over French opposition to Turkey's bid to join the European Union.