Turkey has no intention to break relations with NATO
By Kamila Aliyeva
Turkey does not intend to break off relations with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) following the last incident that took place during military drills in Norway.
This was stated by the press secretary of the Turkish President Ibrahim Kalyn, Turkish media outlets reported on November 21.
At the same time, he noted that Turkey requires a thorough investigation of this incident.
Turkey withdrew its forty servicemen participating in drills at NATO’s joint warfare centre in Stavanger, Norway, due to the fact that photos of Turkey’s incumbent president, as well as first president Mustafa Kemal Ataturk were placed as conditional enemy images on the shooting range as part of the military exercises.
Erdogan said that such behavior does not correspond to the spirit of cooperation and alliance between Turkey and NATO.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Norwegian Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen have apologized to Turkey over the incident.
The joint warfare centre is a multinational NATO unit based in Stavanger, 300km south-west of Oslo. It has a staff of 250 made up of civilians from 11 NATO member states, including Turkey.
In March, the Norwegian government caused fury in Turkey by granting political asylum to five Turkish officers based in Norway who had refused to return home after the failed July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.
There is also growing tensions between Turkey and some of its allies within the alliance, for example the U.S. Ankara’s rapprochement with Russia and purchase of S-400 missiles raised eyebrows among some NATO member states, including the U.S., and caused concerns as they are supposed to only buy compatible weapons systems from other members.
---
Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz