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) ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 only has herself to blame for her 'sofagate humiliation', ... during which she was forced to sit on a nearby sofa while Mr Erdogan and Charles Michel, ...