‘Sofagate’: EU-Turkey diplomatic scandal snowballs

Anger grows after male leaders pictured taking chairs, leaving blindsided von der Leyen standing before being ushered to a sofa.

European Union legislators on Thursday called for the bloc’s top two officials to explain a snowballing diplomatic scandal that saw European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen left without a chair at recent talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The furore – dubbed “sofagate” online – has sparked a slew of accusations over Ankara’s attitude to women and the EU, sexism in Brussels, and internal political wrangling between the bloc’s institutions. It all centred on an awkward moment at the start of talks between von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and Erdogan in Ankara on Tuesday.