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ANKARA, Turkey — NATO's secretary-general apologized to Turkey on Friday over military exercises in Norway during which Turkey's founding leader, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, were reportedly depicted as "enemies."
Erdogan said Turkey withdrew 40 of its soldiers participating in the drills at NATO's Joint Warfare Centre in Stavanger, Norway, in protest of the incident and slammed the alliance.
"There can be no such unity, no such alliance," he said in an address to his ruling party's provincial leaders.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg issued a statement saying: "I apologize for the offense caused." He said the incident was the result of an "individual's actions" and didn't reflect the views of the alliance.
The individual, described as a civilian contractor seconded by Norway and not a NATO employee, was removed from the exercise and an investigation was underway, Stoltenberg said.
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/201...rkey-nato.html
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