Swiss prosecutors launched an investigation on Monday into alleged remarks by Turkey's EU affairs minister denying the Armenian genocide, a crime under Swiss anti-racism laws, the ATS news agency reported.

Egemen Bagis reportedly made the comments to a journalist during a visit to Zurich last week.

"We have ordered a police inquiry," Andrej Gnehm from the Zurich prosecutor's office told the agency, confirming a report in the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper.

The minister attended a concert by Turkish singer Sezen Aksu on January 28 after attending the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos.

According to Turkey's English-language newspaper Today's Zaman, he was asked about his views on a newly-adopted French bill criminalizing denial of the Armenian genocide and responded: "Switzerland is another country where it is a crime to deny the so-called genocide".

"Here I am in Switzerland today, and I'm saying the 1915 incidents did not amount to genocide. Let them come arrest me."

The paper said a complaint had been filed by members of Switzerland's Armenian community.

The facts of the case are not yet clear, Christine Braunschweig, who is in charge of the case, told ATS.

"We don't know at the moment exactly what was said."