Melodi
Disaster Cat
First off, I don't much care for Ms. Ursula Von Der Leyen nor care for the way she's been trying to run the EU; but that said, allowed jerks like Erdoğan to be dealt with firmly when they pull this sort of intentional diplomatic stunt. Basically, the guy only put two chairs out for himself and the MALE diplomat who was also attending the meeting, but no chair for Mr. Van der Leyen refused to have one brought in and made her sit on a distant sofa.
Even the Turkish press realized this was an intentional snub at a female leader, however, the former Belgian Prime Minister should also be publically sanctioned (or fired from his current post) for grabbing the chair rather than insisting that chairs be brought for both of them since in THIS SITUATION they are of equal rank.
That or both of them simply should have walked out, the fact that they didn't and that von der Leyen was left on a distant sofa is outrageous and in diplomatic terms is much worse even than the way it is being reported.
Again, it doesn't matter that I don't like the women or her policies, this is a matter of international respect and rules of diplomacy that go back centuries and it goes with the OFFICE, not the gender or popularity of the person currently holding the office.
But if the EU (or other countries) accept this sort of snub, like Obama did when the Chinese "forgot" to provide exit stairs for his plane on an official trip; then we can expect more of it. Obama should have simply flown away just as Trump said he would have done.
Just insisting it never happens again isn't nearly as effective as simply saying "Oh, someone seems to have forgotten to provide a chair for all three parties to these talks." Followed by getting up and leaving the room if one isn't provided immediately.
Photo is from another article that shows the problem:
www.theguardian.com
Ursula von der Leyen snubbed in chair gaffe at EU-Erdoğan talks
Awkward moment as EC chief consigned to sofa at meeting where women’s rights was on agenda
Ursula von der Leyen remains without a seat in the meeting with Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
00:35
Ursula von der Leyen left without a seat at Erdoğan meeting – video
Daniel Boffey in Brussels
Wed 7 Apr 2021 12.29 BST
274
Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission’s first female president, was “surprised” after being left without a chair during a meeting of the EU’s two presidents and Turkey’s leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and has demanded such a snub is never repeated.
The German head of the commission was left visibly irritated at the start of the talks in Ankara with her two male counterparts, Erdoğan and Charles Michel, the former Belgian prime minister who is president of the European council.
“Ehm,” she muttered, with a small gesticulation directed at the occupied seats, as Michel and Erdoğan settled themselves at the head of the gilded room in the presidential complex at the start of the talks.
The awkward scene played out before a three-hour meeting with Erdoğan on Tuesday where one of the issues raised by the EU leaders was women’s rights in light of Turkey’s withdrawal from a convention on gender-based violence.
Michel, who appeared to make a beeline for the top spot next to Erdoğan as the party entered, offered little evidence of regret. Von der Leyen had to make do with a second-rank seat on a sofa opposite Turkey’s foreign minister.
On Wednesday, Von der Leyen’s spokesperson made clear the commission president’s feelings over the issue, noting that the incident had “sharpened her focus” on the issue of equal rights during the discussions that followed.
He said: “The president of the commission was clearly surprised and that is something you can see from the video … The protocol level of our president is exactly the same as that of the president of the European council.
“Our president is a member of the European council in her own right and normally when she goes to foreign countries she was treated in exactly the same way as the president of the European council.
“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”.
The spokesperson suggested that the commission president took a calculated decision to carry on the meeting despite the affront.
“The president’s assertiveness was clearly on display in that she did not walk away from the meeting, she took part in the meeting, and played her full role,” the spokesperson added.
Questions about Michel’s conduct were directed to his spokesperson, who did not respond to requests for comment.
Iratxe García Pérez, the Spanish MEP who leads the Socialist and Democrats group in the European parliament, tweeted: “First they withdraw from the Istanbul convention and now they leave the president of European commission without a seat in an official visit. Shameful.”
“What a diplomatic fiasco,” tweeted Violeta Bulc, a former EU commissioner.
Neither Von der Leyen nor Michel made any mention of the diplomatic gaffe in a post-meeting press conference. “We have come to Turkey to give our relationship a new momentum and in this respect we had an interesting first meeting with President Erdoğan,” Von der Leyen said.
She added Turkey had sent a “wrong signal” by leaving the convention on preventing violence against women signed in 2011.
“I am deeply worried by the fact that Turkey withdraws from the Istanbul convention,” she said. “This is about protecting women and protecting children from the threat of violence”.
Erdoğan did not take part in the statement. The main result of the meeting was that the EU agreed to extend the five-year, €6bn (£5.2bn) under which Brussels had provided funding in return for stopping the movement of migrants to Greece.
Even the Turkish press realized this was an intentional snub at a female leader, however, the former Belgian Prime Minister should also be publically sanctioned (or fired from his current post) for grabbing the chair rather than insisting that chairs be brought for both of them since in THIS SITUATION they are of equal rank.
That or both of them simply should have walked out, the fact that they didn't and that von der Leyen was left on a distant sofa is outrageous and in diplomatic terms is much worse even than the way it is being reported.
Again, it doesn't matter that I don't like the women or her policies, this is a matter of international respect and rules of diplomacy that go back centuries and it goes with the OFFICE, not the gender or popularity of the person currently holding the office.
But if the EU (or other countries) accept this sort of snub, like Obama did when the Chinese "forgot" to provide exit stairs for his plane on an official trip; then we can expect more of it. Obama should have simply flown away just as Trump said he would have done.
Just insisting it never happens again isn't nearly as effective as simply saying "Oh, someone seems to have forgotten to provide a chair for all three parties to these talks." Followed by getting up and leaving the room if one isn't provided immediately.
Photo is from another article that shows the problem:
Ursula von der Leyen snubbed in chair gaffe at EU-Erdoğan talks
Awkward moment as EC chief consigned to sofa at meeting where women’s rights was on agenda
www.theguardian.com
Ursula von der Leyen snubbed in chair gaffe at EU-Erdoğan talks
Awkward moment as EC chief consigned to sofa at meeting where women’s rights was on agenda
Ursula von der Leyen remains without a seat in the meeting with Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
00:35
Ursula von der Leyen left without a seat at Erdoğan meeting – video
Daniel Boffey in Brussels
Wed 7 Apr 2021 12.29 BST
274
Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission’s first female president, was “surprised” after being left without a chair during a meeting of the EU’s two presidents and Turkey’s leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and has demanded such a snub is never repeated.
The German head of the commission was left visibly irritated at the start of the talks in Ankara with her two male counterparts, Erdoğan and Charles Michel, the former Belgian prime minister who is president of the European council.
“Ehm,” she muttered, with a small gesticulation directed at the occupied seats, as Michel and Erdoğan settled themselves at the head of the gilded room in the presidential complex at the start of the talks.
The awkward scene played out before a three-hour meeting with Erdoğan on Tuesday where one of the issues raised by the EU leaders was women’s rights in light of Turkey’s withdrawal from a convention on gender-based violence.
Michel, who appeared to make a beeline for the top spot next to Erdoğan as the party entered, offered little evidence of regret. Von der Leyen had to make do with a second-rank seat on a sofa opposite Turkey’s foreign minister.
On Wednesday, Von der Leyen’s spokesperson made clear the commission president’s feelings over the issue, noting that the incident had “sharpened her focus” on the issue of equal rights during the discussions that followed.
He said: “The president of the commission was clearly surprised and that is something you can see from the video … The protocol level of our president is exactly the same as that of the president of the European council.
“Our president is a member of the European council in her own right and normally when she goes to foreign countries she was treated in exactly the same way as the president of the European council.
“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”.
The spokesperson suggested that the commission president took a calculated decision to carry on the meeting despite the affront.
“The president’s assertiveness was clearly on display in that she did not walk away from the meeting, she took part in the meeting, and played her full role,” the spokesperson added.
Questions about Michel’s conduct were directed to his spokesperson, who did not respond to requests for comment.
Iratxe García Pérez, the Spanish MEP who leads the Socialist and Democrats group in the European parliament, tweeted: “First they withdraw from the Istanbul convention and now they leave the president of European commission without a seat in an official visit. Shameful.”
“What a diplomatic fiasco,” tweeted Violeta Bulc, a former EU commissioner.
Neither Von der Leyen nor Michel made any mention of the diplomatic gaffe in a post-meeting press conference. “We have come to Turkey to give our relationship a new momentum and in this respect we had an interesting first meeting with President Erdoğan,” Von der Leyen said.
She added Turkey had sent a “wrong signal” by leaving the convention on preventing violence against women signed in 2011.
“I am deeply worried by the fact that Turkey withdraws from the Istanbul convention,” she said. “This is about protecting women and protecting children from the threat of violence”.
Erdoğan did not take part in the statement. The main result of the meeting was that the EU agreed to extend the five-year, €6bn (£5.2bn) under which Brussels had provided funding in return for stopping the movement of migrants to Greece.
