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The way in which the EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen was dealt with at the meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara is making waves.
MEPs in the European Parliament criticized the fact that von der Leyen, unlike EU Council President Charles Michel, did not get a place in an armchair next to Erdogan during the visit to Turkey, but had to sit on a sofa to the side.
The incident quickly got the title "Sofagate" in social networks.
The EU Commission was now officially outraged.
A spokesman made it clear on Wednesday that, from her point of view, the Commission President should have been placed on an equal footing with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and EU Council President Charles Michel.
"The president was clearly surprised," he said.
But she preferred to talk about substantive issues.
Von der Leyen and Michel traveled to Ankara on Tuesday to explore ways of improving relations between the European Union (EU) and Turkey.
A video distributed by the EU shows how the head of the commission initially stops in the Turkish presidential office and reacts with an "Um" when Erdogan and Michel sit down in two armchairs standing next to each other.
Later she can be seen on a sofa on the left at a considerable distance.
EU wants to develop relations with Turkey again
EU Commission President von der Leyen and Council President Michel met with Turkish President Erdogan in Ankara.
Among other things, it was about strengthening economic cooperation and facilitating visas.
Source: WELT / Stefan Wittmann
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The leader of the social democratic group in the European Parliament, Iratxe García Pérez, pointed out that Turkey has only just withdrawn from the Istanbul Convention for the Protection of Women.
"And now they leave the President of the European Commission without a place on an official visit," she wrote on Twitter.
That is "shameful".
“Um” is the new term for “this is not how the EU-Turkey relationship should be,” wrote Green MP Sergey Lagodinsky on Twitter.
For the liberal Sophie in't Veld that was “no coincidence, it was on purpose”.
She also asked why Michel had not protested the treatment of his colleague von der Leyen.
Others reminded on Twitter that the former EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was allowed to sit at eye level at meetings with Erdogan.
The Green Bundestag member Cem Özdemir commented: “Such signs are set by authoritarian oppressors & machos like #Putin, #Erdogan & Co deliberately.
(...) If you can put up with it, you don't have to.
In any case, you don't get respect from men like that! "
After all, the content was about women's rights
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Von der Leyen's spokesman stressed on Wednesday that incidents like the one in the presidential palace in Ankara should not be repeated.
Precautions will now be taken for this.
The commission also pointed out that von der Leyen had used the meeting with Erdogan to hold a long and very open discussion with him about women's rights and Turkey's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention on the Protection of Women and Children from Violence .