I.Talia’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi has described Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a “dictator”. On Thursday, Draghi sharply criticized the handling of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during her recent visit to Ankara.
“I was very saddened by the humiliation the Commission President had to endure because of these – let’s call her by name – dictators,” said the Prime Minister at a press conference in Rome. But the EU must work with heads of state like Erdogan.
Turkey laments “populist remarks”
Draghi’s remarks sparked a sharp reaction in Ankara. The Turkish Foreign Ministry immediately called in Italy’s ambassador. Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu called Draghi’s comments “ugly and unreasonable”. The minister wrote on Twitter: “We strongly condemn these unacceptable, populist remarks (…).”
The “SofaGate” affair has been causing a stir for days. The incident triggered, among other things, allegations of misogyny directed at the Turkish government.
A video showed how the head of the Commission initially stopped at the start of a meeting with Erdogan in the Presidential Office in Ankara on Tuesday and reacted with an “Um” when Erdogan and EU Council President Charles Michel sat down on two armchairs standing next to each other. Von der Leyen then had to take a seat on a sofa at a considerable distance.
Both sides blamed each other for the scandal. Cavusoglu said on Thursday the seating arrangement had been set “in accordance with the EU proposal”. He described the criticism of Turkey as “unfair”. Conservatives and Social Democrats as the largest groups in the European Parliament demanded clarification about the incident and called for a plenary session with von der Leyen and Michel.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/dealing-with-von-der-leyen-draghi-describes-erdogan-as-a-dictator/
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