French President Nicolas Sarkozy refused to talk to the Turkish President Abdullah Gül on the phone.

According to Turkish Hurriyet Daily News "French President Nicolas Sarkozy refused to talk to the Turkish President Abdullah Gül on the phone, as the latter attempted to call him to personally to convey his message over the Armenian ‘genocide’ denial bill to be voted on Thursday in the French parliament." Hyrriyet called it an unprecedented move, which in Turkey is perceived as an act of respectfulness.

The head of the Turkish state Abdullah Gul on Tuesday urged France to immediately abandon the "unacceptable" bill. He said adoption of the bill would severely hurt relations between Turkey and France. The voting is scheduled on Thursday.

Sarkozy has voiced his support for the bill that criminalizes the denial of the Armenian genocide on French soil. Those who publicly deny the Armenian genocide will be fined 45,000 Euros and jailed for one year. Turkey, to do this day has not apologized for what happened to 1.5 million Armenians between 1915-1921. More than 20 parliaments in the world have called it an act of genocide.

After Sarkozy's refusal to answer the phone, the president of Turkey issued a written statement, slamming the bill. “We have not received a reply from Sarkozy for the last two days,” one source told Hyrriyet. “Sarkozy did not have the courage to talk to Gül on the issue.”

Despite diplomatic threats from Turkey, The National Assembly has not changed its agenda from Turkey and said it will proceed with the vote.

UMP MP Valérie Boyer, who will defend the bill on criminalizing denial of Armenian genocide on Thursday, today expressed that he is "shocked by the level of feedback from the Turks." "Today, the Turkish practice a diplomacy of threat. It is particularly shocking and we are amazed by the level of feedback from the Turks," Boyer, who is from Sarkozy's party, told AFP.

He added that the diplomacy of the threat is particularly archaic and this type of interference can only strengthen the resolve of the French National Assembly. "This proposal is the culmination of a long legislative process that began with the recognition of the Armenian genocide in 2001. We had to go further with the criminalization of denial of the genocide," he told the elected, that this decision French parliamentarians is "inspired by the human rights" and "not directed against any country."

Turkey denies the act of genocide, but has admitted that more than 300,000 Armenians were killed in what is today Eastern Turkey during the years of the first World War. Despite that, Turkey has not rendered any apology or regret.

The Minister of Relations with Parliament, Patrick Ollier told the reporters in Paris that he does not understand the Turkish anger. "Maybe Turkish officials see something that does not please them," he told reporters. "But we must explain that this is simply a bill that aims to punish non-recognition of all genocides whatsoever. It is not only the problem of the Armenians, he added.