Drill incident biggest scandal in NATO history, Gov't Spokesperson Bozdağ says

Turkey's deputy prime minister on Monday called last week's drill incident in Norway "one of the biggest scandals in NATO's history".

Speaking to reporters in the capital Ankara, Bekir Bozdağ said: "This is one of the biggest scandals in NATO's history. We state clearly that this incident should not be swept under the rug."

Turkey withdrew from NATO's Trident Javelin exercise in Norway on Friday after a civilian Norwegian official depicted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as an "enemy collaborator."

A portrait of Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was also shown in the "hostile leader list" during a computer-assisted exercise.

Following the incident, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg apologized to Turkey in a written statement and in person to the Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar during a meeting in Canada.

Meanwhile, Bozdağ also said that the U.S. court case against Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab is a "clear plot against Turkey" which lacks any legal basis.

"None of the evidence in this case is legal, you cannot use illegal documents as evidence," he said. "They are carrying out trials and acting as if they have documents that don't exist."