Turkish main opposition urges strong response to NATO

By Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA

The main opposition party has urged the government to give a strong response to NATO for using the name of Turkey’s president and a picture of Turkish Republic’s founder on its “enemy chart” during a drill.

"Turkey should give a strong response on this situation, “Republican People's Party (CHP)’s Parliamentary Deputy Group Chairman Ozgur Ozel said Friday.

Ozel said the incident during a NATO drill in Norway was unacceptable.

He called on NATO to punish those responsible for the incident.

"There is no way one can accept this insult to Turkish Republic's president and the founder president of the country."

NATO’s chief earlier Friday apologized to Turkey after a civilian Norwegian official depicted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as an “enemy collaborator” during a bloc exercise in Norway.

Turkey has withdrawn from the Trident Javelin exercise.

Erdogan cited a separate incident in the drill that showed Turkish Republic founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk as “hostile”.

NATO’s chief Friday apologized to Turkey, blaming the incident on “an individual's actions”.