ANKARA. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu returns the accusations from Europe on the case of the chair denied to the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, during the visit to Ankara in the company of the President of the European Council Charles Michel and assures that ” protocol and indications have been respected “.
“We have suffered unjust accusations and attacks, Turkey is not a country that receives guests for the first time. The protocol has been respected to the letter and we have never lacked our hospitality, on this as on all other occasions. he meeting two days ago the chairs were arranged according to the wishes expressed in the meeting preceding the meeting “.
“In terms of protocol treatment, the presidents of the Commission and the Council
European are treated in the same way. There may be those who speak first or those who speak later. The organization of the protocol is an internal matter. We will analyze what happened so that it does not happen again “, the spokesman of the European Commission, Eric Mamer, said this morning to journalists who asked for details on the protocol.” There was an incident, but the attitude of President Von der Leyen was to continue the meeting to get the EU message across, “added Mamer.” We need to focus on our message. “Mamer stressed that Von der Leyen during his meeting with Erdogan” spoke about the Istanbul Convention and the woman rights”.
On the Middle East Eye website, a source confirms the Turkish version by reporting that the arrangement of the chairs had been agreed with Michel’s staff, days before the meeting. Again according to the same source, there was a new embarrassing moment during lunch: the delegates from Ankara guaranteed that they had offered both a seat in front of Erdogan. This arrangement was rejected by Michel’s entourage, who would have put von der Leyen aside on this second occasion as well.
“The #SofaGate is only a representation of an EU subordinated to the whims of a dictator. Erdogan’s criminal acts have been neglected for years in the name of particular interests. The president of the EU Council should resign for this and not just for institutional politeness. “Pd Pina Picierno MEP wrote on Twitter.
The EPP Group in the European Parliament calls for a plenary debate on the visit. “The visit to Ankara by Presidents von der Leyen and Michel should have been a message of firmness and unity in Europe’s approach to Turkey. Unfortunately it translated into a symbol of disunity as the presidents were unable to be together when it was We expect more from European foreign policy “, said the president of the EPP group, Manfred Weber. “In addition to the failure of unity, we need to know what has been put on the table by President Michel, as the issues that are mentioned need the approval of the European Parliament. We are extremely concerned about visa or customs commitments, with no concrete changes and lasting of Turkey’s policy in the Eastern Mediterranean, towards Cyprus and our external borders “, adds the MEP. “Furthermore, the visit failed to show our broader concerns regarding President Erdogan’s attacks on civil society and political prisoners in the country. These issues need to be clarified and for this there will be a request for a plenary debate at the presence of the two presidents “, concludes Weber.
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