ANKARA, TURKEY Turkey on Thursday strongly rejected accusations that it snubbed Ursula von der Leyen one of the European Union s most powerful executives because of her gender after a protocol gaffe during a meeting at the Turkish presidential palace ignited a public uproar. The affair also branched into a diplomatic spat between Turkey and Italy, whose prime minister compared the Turkish president to a dictator and spoke of von der Leyen s humiliation. Von der Leyen the European Commission president and European Council chief Charles Michel met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks on Turkey-EU relations on Tuesday. The guests were led into a large room for discussions with Erdogan, but only two chairs had been set out in front of the EU and Turkish flags for the three leaders.