NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has issued an apology over a table listing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan 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.
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Earlier on Friday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that Turkey has withdrawn its 40 troops from a planned NATO drill after his name and the picture of Turkish Republic's founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk were used in an "enemy chart" during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 Erdoğan's remarks, NATO said that two separate incidents occurred with regard to Erdoğan 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 Erdoğan 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.
NORWAY SAYS IT 'REGRETS' NATO INCIDENT CONDEMNED BY TURKEY
Norway's defence minister expressed his regrets Friday over an incident at NATO training exercises which prompted Turkey to withdraw its participation.
"I regret the incident which occurred during the NATO exercise at the Joint Warfare Centre in Stavanger," Defence Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen said in a statement to AFP after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan withdrew troops to protest the incident in Norway he deemed offensive.
