European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union (EU), on Friday slammed a decision by Turkish judges to ban an academic conference on the Armenian genocide.

"We strongly deplore this decision to stop the Turkish people from discussing their history," said a Commission spokeswoman. A ruling by a Turkish court banning a meeting planned for Saturday on the massacre of Armenians in World War One is the second attempt to ban the conference.

The ruling, which drew fire from Brussels as expected, took place just ten days before the October 3 date for the start of Turkey's EU entry talks.

The Commission is warning Turkey that the decision to cancel the conference for a second time would be noted in an annual situation report due out in November.