French President Nicolas Sarkozy refused to talk to Turkish President Abdullah Gül on the phone as the latter attempted to call him to personally convey his message over the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial to be voted in French parliament on December 22.

According to Hurriyet Daily News, the Elysee Palace was notified Monday, December 19 morning that Gül would like to talk to Sarkozy in person, but the request was not met, leading Gül to issue a written statement.

“We have not received a reply from Sarkozy for the last two days,” one source said. “Sarkozy did not have the courage to talk to Gül on the issue.”

After Gül’s request to speak was turned down, a statement calling on French parliament “to immediately abandon the bill” was posted on the Turkish presidential website.

The statement warns that the move “jeopardizes deep-rooted bilateral ties.”

“I hope that this initiative, which flouts freedom of expression and blocks even the path to objective scientific research, is dropped in the shortest possible time,” Gül said. “It’s strange and thought-provoking that such initiatives always coincide with pre-election periods. Judging a country’s history by the way of political parliamentary moves and distorting history for the sake of political ends is inconsiderate in the least.” Ankara expects “reason and common sense to prevail in France,” he said.