European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday pointedly blamed sexism for her banishment to a sofa during a meeting with the Turkish president and Charles Michel, her European Council ...

Michel stayed seated in the chair next to Erdogan for the full two-and-a-half hour meeting, while von der Leyen sat on the sofa. Von der Leyen's spokesman said afterwards that Turkey had breached ...

Michel took the chair next to Erdogan, while von der Leyen looked at the seated men, uttered an “ehm” sound and then sat in the middle of a large sofa, away from her male counterparts.

While Mrs. von der Leyen could have stood or left, "she preferred not to increase the incident" and sat on a nearby couch, "however very angry," the letter explained.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sits on a side sofa as her male counterparts sit at the front of the room during a high level meeting in Ankara on 6 April, 2021 (European Union) ...

Known as Sofa Gate, the incident occurred when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted EU leaders in Ankara early this month, and von der Leyen was not given a seat – instead, she had to sit on a ...

But at the Commission’s daily press conference on Wednesday, chief spokesman Eric Mamer said von der Leyen “should have been seated exactly in the same manner as the president of the European Council ...

EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel held their first talks Monday (12 April) since a diplomatic gaffe in Turkey -- dubbed "sofa-gate" -- laid bare tensions between the bloc's major ...

Von der Leyen was eventually offered a seat on a nearby sofa, opposite Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who occupies a lower-status rank in diplomatic protocol. In previous meetings the ...

Ursula von der Leyen musste hingegen abseits auf einem Sofa sitzen. In die Geschichte ging das als "Sofa-Gate" ein. "Ich fühlte mich verletzt und allein gelassen, als Frau und als Europäerin ...

Von der Leyen hat sich dagegen als das Gesicht der EU-Kommission etabliert und dem Amt eine andere Autorität verliehen. In Ankara musste von der Leyen 2021 auf dem Sofa Platz nehmen, während ...