Influential Armenian American lobby groups have welcomed the law criminalizing the denial of the 1915 Armenian genocide that was passed by the French Senate late on Monday.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram Hamparian praised France’s courage, urging U.S. President Barack Obama to honor his pledge to recognize the mass killings and deportations of 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

“Today’s courageous vote by the French Senate shines the spotlight across the Atlantic, on American policymakers, who, for far too long, have let Ankara block U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide,” said Hamparian, according to Asbarez.com.

“The growing international pressure on Turkey and, closer to home, the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by 42 U.S. states, highlight that President Obama, who promised as a candidate to recognize the Armenian Genocide, has allowed a foreign country to impose a gag-rule on U.S. recognition of this crime against humanity,” he said. “We mark this occasion by urging President Obama to honor his pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide and by calling on the U.S. House leadership to allow a vote on the Armenian Genocide Resolution,H.Res.304.”

The French Senate passed the bill outlawing the Armenian Genocide denial after more than seven hours of deliberations on late Monday.

The new French law that now awaits presidential enactment makes genocide denial by subjects of France punishable by up to a year in prison and 45,000 euro (about $58,000).