NATO chief Stoltenberg apologizes to Turkey over 'enemy chart' incident in Norway

NATO chief Stoltenberg apologizes to Turkey over
# 17 November 2017 14:15 (UTC +04:00)

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has issued an apology over a table listing President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan and the Turkish republic's founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's name and pictures were used in a table listing "enemies" during a NATO drill exercise in Norway, APA reported citing Daily Sabah.

Stoltenberg said in the statement that the offense caused in a recently concluded exercise at NATO's Joint Warfare Center in Stavanger were "the results of an individual's actions and did not reflect the NATO's views."

The statement said the individual, a civilian contractor seconded by Norway, was removed immediately from the exercise and it was Norway's decision to apply any disciplinary action on the individual.

Earlier on Friday, President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan announced that Turkey has withdrawn its 40 troops from a planned NATO drill after his name and the picture of Turkish Republic's founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk were used in an "enemy chart" during the drill.

Following ErdoÄŸan's remarks, NATO said that two separate incidents occurred with regard to ErdoÄŸan and Atatürk.

Initially, a technician used a picture of Atatürk he found online to represent enemy ranks. After Turkish officers confirmed the incident, the technician was dismissed from duty.

Another incident involved a Norwegian officer of Turkish origin, who opened a fake ErdoÄŸan account on NATO's internal social media network and posted anti-alliance comments in the name of the president. After confirming the incident with Turkish officers at naval forces command, the officer responsible for the incident was also dismissed.

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THE OPERATION IS BEING PERFORMED