President Recep Tayyip Erdogan caused a diplomatic scandal when, earlier this week, he hosted Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Union’s executive arm, and Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, at Erdogan’s 1,100-room palace.
At the initial photo opportunity, Erdogan seated Michel in a gilded chair next to his but left his female colleague standing before waving her to a more distant couch. The episode came just over three weeks since the Turkish dictator unilaterally withdrew Turkey from the Istanbul Convention, the first international treaty to combat violence against women and outlaw spousal abuse. The situation of Turkish women under Erdogan has long been dire: In the first seven years of his rule, the murder rate of women increased 1,400%. One-third of marriages today in Eastern Turkey involve an underage bride.
The idea that the breach of protocol was an oversight is nonsense. Turkey is infamous for fastidiousness surrounding protocol. While protocol means to facilitate diplomacy, Turkey often weaponizes it to derail talks as its military and foreign ministry amplify obsessions over minor issues and sleights, real or imagined. Its presidency takes the issue further: Erdogan has imprisoned thousands for supposed disrespect. Western officials should expect Erdogan’s misogyny and temper tantrums by now.
What is equally scandalous was the reaction of Michel. Witnessing the deliberate slight of his female colleague, Michel should have simply gotten up and walked out. In effect, while European officials had made noise about Turkey’s abuse of women’s rights, Michel signaled that when push came to shove, their rhetoric was empty.
Had Michel instead walked out, he would have affirmed the European Council meant what it said and viewed women’s rights more important than a photo-op. Word of such a move would have spread like wildfire inside Turkey, sparked a debate about the role of women, and undercut Erdogan’s ability to posture as a respected figure on the international stage. To be fair, Michel’s accession to Erdogan’s humiliation of his colleague is not the first time European leaders have exposed their own hypocrisy about women’s rights in the region.
There is a broader lesson for the United States.
Two weeks into his presidency, Joe Biden declared, “Diplomacy is back.” He has sought to engage China and Iran. The first effort was a fiasco. The second effort is a humiliation in progress as Iranian officials learn they can demand and receive almost everything to get back to the table. No matter, that is, the regional provocations they undertake and how much they cheat on their nuclear commitments. In both cases, the willingness to walk away from the table in the face of a test would be symbolically important and would actually enhance the quality of American diplomacy. Meeting with tribal elders in Iraq’s al Anbar governorate yesterday, I was asked repeatedly, “Why is the United States so weak? Why does Washington not understand when adversaries test them for weakness?” There is no good answer.
Diplomacy, after all, is not talk for talk’s sake, but knowing that walking away can be as important as engaging. To walk away does not mean failure; rather, it succeeds when adversaries are ready to engage sincerely. Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken seek to model American diplomacy after Europe’s, but, to be successful, they must recognize that Europe today is full of Michels who are obtuse in the face of a challenge and are willing to throw colleagues under the bus. Let diplomacy succeed. But let’s not pretend effective diplomacy means behaving like Europe.
Michael Rubin (@Mrubin1971) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a former Pentagon official.
