Turkey EU
European
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a joint news conference
with EU Council President Charles Michel after talks with Turkey's President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, April 6, 2021. Top European
Union officials met with Erdogan in Ankara on Tuesday, weeks after EU leaders
agreed to boost trade and improve cooperation on migration following
conciliatory steps from Turkey. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
SAMUEL PETREQUIN
April 7, 2021,
1:22 PM
BRUSSELS (AP) —
Gender equality issues took center stage Wednesday in Brussels a day after
Ursula von der Leyen, one the EU's most powerful executives, was treated like a
second-rank official during a visit to Ankara.
Von der Leyen —
the European Commission president — and European Council chief Charles Michel
visited Turkey on Tuesday for talks with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan
focusing on the EU-Turkey relations. After they were led in a big room for
discussions with Erdogan, TV images showed that only two chairs had been laid
out in front of the EU and the Turkish flags for the three leaders.
Michel and Erdogan
took the chairs as von der Leyen stood looking at both men, expressing her
astonishment with a “ehm" and a gesture of disappointment. Von der Leyen
eventually sat on a large beige sofa, away from her male counterparts.
According to a EU
source, the meeting between the three leaders lasted more than two hours and a
half.
“The important
thing is that the president should have been seated exactly in the same manner
as the president of the European council and the Turkish president," EU
commission chief spokesman Eric Mamer said, adding that Von der Leyen was
surprised by the arrangements.
“She decided to
proceed nevertheless, prioritizing substance over protocol, but nevertheless
let me stress that the president expects that the institution that she
represents to be treated with the required protocol, and she has therefore
asked her team to take all appropriate contacts in order to ensure that such an
incident does not occur in the future," Mamer said.
He added that Von
der Leyen's protocol team did not travel to Turkey with her due to the
coronavirus pandemic.
There was no
immediate comment from the Turkish presidency or the European Council.
The diplomatic
incident was abundantly commented on social media. European lawmaker Sophie in
’t Veld posted pictures of previous meetings between Michel’s and Von der
Leyen’s predecessors with Erdogan, with the trio of men sitting in chairs next
to each other.
“And no, it wasn’t
a coincidence, it was deliberate,” in 't Veld wrote on Twitter, questioning why
Michel remained “silent.”
“‘Ehm’ is the new
term for ‘that’s not how 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 combatting
violence against women, triggering criticism from EU officials. The move was a
blow to Turkey’s women’s rights movement, which says domestic violence and
murders of women are on the rise.
Von der Leyen
called for Erdogan to reverse his decision to withdraw from the Istanbul
Convention.
“Human rights
issues are non-negotiable. We were very clear about that. We urge Turkey to
reverse its decision because it is the first international binding instrument
to combat violence against women and children,” she said.
Asked whether the
commission regarded the incident as specifically gender-related, Mamer said Von
der Leyen traveled to Ankara as the president of an EU institution.
“Being a man or a
woman does not change anything to the fact that she should have been seated
according to the very same protocol arrangements as the two other
participants,” Mamer said. “She seized the opportunity to specifically tackle
the Istanbul convention and women's rights. I believe that the message sent was
clear."
___
Suzan Fraser in
Ankara and Raf Casert in Brussels contributed to this story.
No comments:
Post a Comment