#GiveHerASeat trends after the EU women leader was not presided over on an official visit

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Social media users quickly adopted a new hashtag after two European Union leaders visited Turkey and only one was offered a chair during a meeting.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and her colleague Charles Michel, President of the European Council, met this week with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In the meeting room, there were two seats between the EU and Turkish flags. Michel was given one, and Erdoğan grabbed the other, leaving von der Leyen standing.

“Uhm …” von der Leyen murmured as he assessed the situation, raising his hand in question, as shown in the video clips posted on Twitter.

Finally, she was sitting on a nearby side sofa while the photographers took pictures of the two men. On a side sofa, in front of her, was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.

The New York Times noted that von der Leyen and Michel are equal in the EU leadership and that von der Leyen outperforms Çavuşoğlu.

After the incident hit the internet, the outcry began, and many said it was indicative of Turkey’s view on women. Days before the meeting, Turkey abandoned the Istanbul Convention, a treaty aimed at stopping violence against women, the Times reports.

“#GiveHerASeat” started to be a trend, initially in Europe and then elsewhere.

Eric Mamer, an EU spokesman, told the Times that von der Leyen “should have been seated in exactly the same way as the president of the European Council and the Turkish president”.

Mamer did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.

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