The recent scandal during a NATO drill in Norway was an attack targeting "Turkey and the Turkish nation," President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Nov. 19, while acknowledging support from the opposition over the incident.
On Friday, Erdoğan announced his decision to withdraw 40 Turkish servicemen from the NATO drills in Norway, after his name appeared on an "enemy chart" during the exercise. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has already offered his apologies to the Turkish president. He noted that the person who posted the material was a Norwegian civil contractor, not a NATO employee.
Details of the incident were sketchy. On Friday, Erdoğan said Atatürk's, modern Turkey's founder, picture and his own name were featured on an "enemy chart" during the drills.
"I hope that those who welcomed attacks against us before now understand the real face of the matter, as Atatürk was also included," Erdoğan told a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) provincial congress in the eastern province of Bayburt.
"The issue is not a person or party issue. The target is Turkey and the Turkish nation," he claimed.
"Today there is a Turkey that cannot be compared with 15 years ago in every field - from the economy to the defence industry and from trade to diplomacy. There is now a Turkey that produces its own weapons and tanks. There is a country which is maintaining its fight against terror with its own unmanned aerial vehicles. There is a Turkey that is now preparing to produce its own indigenous car," Erdoğan said.
Parliamentary main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu also said his party cannot accept the insult against Turkey’s history and today’s Turkey. Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli on Nov. 18 also said the incident in Norway as "a disgrace that cannot be fixed or compensated."
