BRUSSELS (AP) – Gender equality issues took place in Brussels on Wednesday, a day after Ursula von der Leyen, one of the EU’s strongest directors, was treated as a second-rate official during a visit the Ankara.
Von der Leyen – the president of the European Commission – and the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, visited Turkey on Tuesday for talks with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, focusing on EU-Turkey relations. After being led into a large room for talks with Erdogan, TV footage showed that only two seats were placed in front of the EU and Turkish flags for the three leaders.
Michel and Erdogan took their seats as von der Leyen stood looking at both men, expressing his astonishment with an “ehm” and a gesture of disappointment. Von der Leyen finally sat down on a large beige sofa, away from her male counterparts.
According to an EU source, the meeting between the three leaders lasted more than two and a half hours.
“The important thing is that the president should have been seated in exactly the same way as the president of the European Council and the Turkish president,” said EU Commission spokesman Eric Mamer, adding that Von der Leyen was surprised by the arrangements.
“He nevertheless decided to proceed, prioritizing the substance over the protocol, but still allow me to emphasize that the President expects the institution he represents to be treated with the required protocol and therefore asked his team to take all appropriate contacts. to make sure that such an incident will not happen in the future “, said Mamer.
He added that Von der Leyen’s protocol team did not travel to Turkey with her due to the coronavirus pandemic.
There were no immediate comments from the Turkish presidency or the European Council.
The diplomatic incident was commented on in abundance on social networks. MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld posted pictures of previous meetings between Michel’s predecessors and Von der Leyen with Erdogan, with the trio of men seated next to each other.
“And no, it wasn’t a coincidence, it was deliberate,” Veld wrote on Twitter, wondering why Michel remained “silent.”
“Ehm” is the new term for “this is not how the EU-Turkey relationship should be,” said Sergey Lagodinsky, another member of the European Parliament, using the hashtags #GiveHerASeat and #womensrights. “
Last month, Erdogan pulled Turkey out of a key European convention aimed at combating violence against women, provoking criticism from EU officials. The move was a blow to Turkey’s women’s rights movement, which says domestic violence and the murder of women are on the rise.
Von der Leyen called on Erdogan to reverse his decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention.
“Human rights issues are not negotiable. We were very clear about that. We urge Turkey to reverse its decision, as it is the first binding international instrument to combat violence against women and children, “she said.
Asked if the commission considers the incident to be gender-specific, Mamer said Von der Leyen traveled to Ankara as president of an EU institution.
“Being a man or a woman does not change the fact that she should have been placed according to the same protocol arrangements as the other two participants,” Mamer said. “She took the opportunity to specifically address the Istanbul Convention and women’s rights. I think the message sent was clear. “
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Suzan Fraser in Ankara and Raf Casert in Brussels contributed to this story.