Originally published 2021-04-27.
"Sofagate" is the name given to a diplomatic incident in Ankara on 6 April 2021, when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was left without a chair at a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. European Council President Charles Michel took the only seat beside Erdoğan, and von der Leyen was directed to a sofa at the side of the room. Three weeks later she told the European Parliament that she could find no justification for it in the EU treaties, and concluded that it happened because she is a woman.
The episode lasted only seconds on camera, but it raised serious questions about diplomatic protocol, about the rivalry between the EU's top offices, and about how women in power are treated. It also came at a sensitive moment, just after Turkey had announced it would leave the Istanbul Convention on violence against women. Here is what happened, what each side said, and why it still matters.
What happened in Ankara
Michel and von der Leyen travelled to Turkey together for talks with Erdoğan on migration, trade and tensions in the eastern Mediterranean. In the meeting room at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, two gilded chairs had been placed side by side in front of the EU and Turkish flags. When the three leaders walked in, Erdoğan and Michel sat down in them.
Von der Leyen was left standing. Video of the moment shows her pausing and making an audible "ehm" of surprise before she was shown to a long sofa, opposite Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who ranks below her in protocol terms. The clip spread widely within hours.
Von der Leyen’s response
At first von der Leyen's spokesperson said only that she had been "surprised". On 26 April 2021 she addressed the European Parliament in Brussels and spoke much more directly. She began by reminding MEPs that she is the first woman to lead the European Commission, and said she had expected to be treated in Ankara like any Commission president. She was not.
She then argued that the seating could not be explained by EU rules and that the only explanation left was her gender. "I have to conclude, it happened because I am a woman," she said, before asking a pointed question: "Would this have happened if I had worn a suit and a tie?"
She noted that in photographs of earlier meetings she had seen no shortage of chairs, but also no women. In her view, the issue was not furniture or etiquette but the values the EU claims to stand for, and how far it still has to go before women are treated as equals. On the same day she posted a short message on Twitter making a similar point, and adding that many women face far more serious treatment that never makes the news.
My visit to Turkey showed how far we still have to go before women are treated as equals. Always. Everywhere.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) April 26, 2021
My story made headlines. But there are so many stories of women, most of them far more serious, that go unobserved.
We have to make sure these stories are also told!
What Michel and Turkey said
Charles Michel, a former Belgian prime minister, came under heavy criticism for sitting down without a word. He defended himself by saying he had chosen not to make a scene that could damage fragile EU-Turkey relations, though he admitted he had slept badly afterwards and would act differently if he could go back. Some MEPs and women's rights groups called for his resignation, and Italian MEP Massimiliano Smeriglio launched a petition demanding it.
Turkey rejected any suggestion of a snub. Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu said the seating had followed arrangements agreed in advance with the EU side and called the accusations unfair. The EU's own protocol chief disputed that, saying the EU team had not been allowed to inspect the room beforehand. Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi went further, calling Erdoğan a "dictator", which led Ankara to summon the Italian ambassador.
Was it really about protocol?
Part of the confusion comes from the EU's unusual structure. It has two presidents who both represent it abroad. The President of the European Council chairs summits of the 27 national leaders; the President of the European Commission heads the EU's executive. In international protocol the Council president is often listed first, which is the argument Michel and Turkey relied on. The Commission's view is that the two presidents have equal rank and should be treated the same.
Whatever the formal order, diplomats pointed out that hosts normally avoid exactly this kind of embarrassment, either by adding a third chair or by agreeing the arrangements in advance. Michel could also have offered his seat. That is why many observers saw the episode as a failure of both Turkish hospitality and EU coordination, and why von der Leyen framed it as a question about attitudes rather than rules.
The Istanbul Convention backdrop
The timing made the images especially awkward. On 20 March 2021, about two weeks before the visit, Erdoğan issued a presidential decree withdrawing Turkey from the Istanbul Convention, the Council of Europe treaty on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. The withdrawal took effect on 1 July 2021.
The convention had been opened for signature in Istanbul in 2011, and Turkey was the first country to ratify it. Its departure was strongly criticised by women's rights groups in Turkey, by the Council of Europe and by EU leaders, and the subject was on the agenda in Ankara. For many viewers, a woman leader left standing at that particular meeting looked like a symbol of a much bigger issue.
Why the incident still matters
Sofagate became a shorthand in Brussels for the subtle ways in which women in senior roles can be sidelined: not by rules written down anywhere, but by assumptions about who naturally gets the central seat. Von der Leyen herself was careful to say that her case was minor compared with the experiences of many women, and that it attracted attention only because of her position.
It also led the Commission to call for a working arrangement, a modus vivendi, with the Council so that the EU's two presidents would not be caught out like this again. And it is now a standard example in discussions of diplomatic protocol, showing how a seating plan can carry a political message, whether intended or not.
Sources: Wikipedia: Sofagate; Wikipedia: Istanbul Convention; BBC News (26 April 2021): von der Leyen on the Turkey chair snub; Ursula von der Leyen on X/Twitter, 26 April 2021.
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