Outrage over Erdogan's unacceptable snub of Von der Leyen

The president of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, expected to receive the same protocol treatment as the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, in the meeting that both held on Tuesday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, where she was relegated to a secondary seat.

The chief spokesman of the European Commission, Eric Mamer, said Wednesday that Von der Leyen "should have received exactly the same seat" as Michel and Erdogan in the meeting that the three held Tuesday in Ankara, where the two men occupied chairs in the central part of the room and she was seated on a sofa on the side.

The EC president's team, her spokesperson added, has initiated a series of contacts with the parties involved in this meeting to ensure that such an "incident" does not "happen again in the future".

Asked whether there have been contacts with the cabinet of the Council president, who sat next to Erdogan in the chairs while Von der Leyen was initially left standing, Mamer said he is not aware of any such contact having taken place.

The spokesman said that the explanation of the reasons for placing two chairs instead of three should be given by the Turkish government, which is in charge of organizing the meeting, and explained that the Commission delegation was not aware of this protocol detail before the meeting began.

In any case, he insisted that Von der Leyen wanted to "give priority" to the substance of the meeting rather than a matter of protocol and that the incident "should not overshadow the substance of the trip", which was intended to be a new rapprochement between Brussels and Ankara with a view to a possible positive resumption of their relations.

 "The president was not amused," a European source close to the talks in Ankara told Efe last night.

This protocol incident, baptized in social networks as "Sofagate", had never occurred in the past in meetings of the previous presidents of the Council (Donald Tusk) and the Commission (Jean-Claude Junker) with Erdogan, who appear in equal seats in the official photographs of meetings such as the one they held in the margins of a G20 meeting in China.

The EC chairwoman used the conversation to "have a long and frank discussion about Turkey's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention," a treaty to combat male violence, and to address the issue of women's rights, as well as to outline the conclusions on Turkey adopted at the last summit of heads of state and government held at the end of last March, Mamer stressed.

Basically, Von der Leyen and Michel offered Erdogan yesterday some economic improvements, such as a modernization of the Customs Union, mobility facilities and aid for the integration of Syrian refugees, in exchange for Ankara's constructive attitude in the Eastern Mediterranean and respect for human rights.

Von der Leyen "not amused" to be left without a chair at meeting with Erdogan

In the official videos released of the meeting (https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-203992), it can be seen how Von der Leyen, Michel and Erdogan arrive in a room in which there are two chairs presiding over the scene and two side sofas and that, while the two men sit in the chairs, she remains standing.

In a later scene, the German appears seated on the side sofa and Michel and Erdogan remain seated in the chairs, near the flags of the European Union and Turkey.

According to the same source, Von der Leyen used the conversation to "have a long and frank discussion about Turkey's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention," a treaty to combat male violence, and to address the issue of women's rights.

Michel gives his version of Von der Leyen's "distressing" situation in Turkey

The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, reacted last night to the "distressing" and "regrettable" situation experienced on a recent official trip to Turkey with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who received "differential, even diminished treatment" by the authorities in Ankara, something that "saddens" him.

In a message posted on his Facebook account, Michel tonight broke the silence he has maintained since the controversial meeting he and Von der Leyen held on Tuesday with Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan, in which the head of the Community Executive was relegated to a secondary position.

Erdogan and Michel sat in the center of a large hall on two chairs, while Von der Leyen was placed on a side sofa.

 The treatment received by Von der Leyen, who has the same rank as the president of the Council, generated a cascade of criticism from the press and politicians, while her team initiated a series of contacts with the parties involved in this meeting to ensure that such an "incident" is not "repeated in the future."

The Commission's chief spokesman, Eric Mamer, stressed Wednesday that the German "should have received exactly the same seat" as Michel and Erdogan at the meeting.

Images that, Michel acknowledged, provoked "sometimes harsh reactions and interpretations" with the Turkish authorities, but also with himself for not having been reactive.

An incident which, according to Michel, "saddens" him for two reasons.

First, for having given the "impression of being indifferent to the awkwardness of the protocol" Turkish towards Von der Leyen, when he has the "honor" of being part of a European project in which currently two of the four main institutions, the Commission and the Central Bank (Christine Lagarde) are headed by women.

Moreover, he says he is "proud" that a woman, Sophie Vilmès, the first in Belgium, succeeded him as prime minister.

And secondly, he is saddened that this situation has "overshadowed the important and beneficial geopolitical work" that he says he and Von der Leyen did together in Ankara, and from which he hopes Europe will derive "benefits".

Michel stressed that this visit marked "an important moment in the complex process of improving the European Union's relations with Turkey" and was "the result of careful preparation and many months of diplomatic work" for the country to "return to a more constructive approach" with the EU.

"And despite a clear will to do the right thing, the strict interpretation of the protocol rules by the Turkish services produced a distressing situation: the differentiated, even diminished treatment" of Von der Leyen, Michel said.

The Belgian politician regretted that "the few images that have circulated have given the impression that I would have been insensitive to this situation. Nothing could be further from the truth or from my deepest feelings and the principles of respect that I consider essential."

At the time, Michel said, although both he and Von der Leyen were "aware of the regrettable nature of the situation," they chose "not to aggravate it with a public incident," and focused on "the substance of the political discussion" with their hosts.

What was essential, he said, was in particular the defense they made to Erdogan of "the Istanbul Convention, the rights of women and children and, more broadly, the defense of our fundamental values of the rule of law, freedom of speech and freedom of the press."