Furthermore, there is a traditional friendship between the Ottoman Empire and France.
Yes, two hundred years ago, King Francois I of France and Sultan Suleiman I formed the "Holy League of Profanation"——the Crescent and Lily Alliance——to jointly deal with the threat of the Habsburg family.
Although this alliance has long since ended in practice, and it is indeed shameful to speak of aligning with infidels, technically, the two countries have never formally declared the abrogation of the treaty. [Note 1]
The Grand Vizier Melek continued, "We can make a large-scale purchase of weapons from France, expand the training size of the Topizis New Army, and strive to persuade France to convince Russia not to interfere with the Empire's war against Austria.
"As far as I know, France has already formed a marriage alliance with Russia, and they have considerable influence over the Tsar."
