Gul sends a message to France

French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday refused to talk to Turkish President Abdullah Gul on the phone as he attempted to call him to personally convey his message over the so called Armenian genocide denial bill to be voted tomorrow in French Parliament, and thus Gul yesterday issued a written statement to slam the bill. Speaking on the issue, Presidential Chief Advisor Ahmet Sever said, "The Elysee Palace was notified three days ago that Gul would like to talk to Sarkozy, but we have not received a reply from him yet. As he avoided talking to Gul on the phone, a presidential statement was made by Gul. The statement warns that such a move jeopardizes deep-rooted bilateral ties between the two countries, saying, "I hope that this initiative, which disrespects freedom of expression and blocks even the path to objective scientific research, is dropped in the shortest possible time. It's also very strange and thought-provoking that such initiatives always coincide with pre-election periods. I would like to expect that France won't jeopardize the Turkish-French friendship, common interests and alliance ties dating back to many centuries for the sake of political ends. Judging a country's history by the way of Parliament which is a political institution and distorting history for the sake of political ends is inconsiderate in the least."