Turkey’s Foreign Ministry has summoned the Italian ambassador in Ankara, against the backdrop of Mario Draghi’s statements, the Italian Prime Minister, in which he described Recep Tayyip Erdogan the Turkish President as a “dictator,” according to the “TRT Arabic” network, which is close to the government in Ankara.
Turkey denounced the Italian Prime Minister’s statements, which it considered “insulting” the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Italian Prime Minister had described the Turkish president as a “dictator” and expressed his hatred for the way Erdogan behaves towards the head of the European Union Commission, during a press conference Thursday, adding that he was upset by the insult of Ursula von der Leyen.
“With these dictators, we need to openly express our different views, but we also need to be ready to cooperate in the interests of our countries,” Italian Prime Minister added.
It is noteworthy that Turkey rejected, on Thursday, the accusations that it snubbed the President of the European Commission because of her gender, adding that the EU Protocol team developed the meeting plan, while the Union denied this.
A video clip of the meeting of Turkish President, Tuesday, with the presidents of the European Union captured an embarrassing moment when it appeared that the European Commission President was left standing while her male counterparts took their seats on two seats reserved for the meeting.
In the video, von der Leyen appears to be unsure of where she is sitting, and she points with her right hand and says “which one”, while “Erdogan” and Charles Michel the European Council President sits.
Footage published by the EU also showed von der Leyen, seated on a sofa opposite Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
The video tape of this protocol incident shocked many European representatives and senior officials in the bloc.
