Ankara Asks For Further Probe into NATO Drill Incident

Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Ömer Çelik on Sunday called for investigating the chain of command involved in the NATO drill in Norway during which the reputation of Turkish president and founder were tarnished, Anadolu Agency reported.

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

The Norwegian national was removed from the exercise following the incident; NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Norwegian Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen also apologized to Turkey.

Speaking at the 9th annual Halifax International Security Forum in Canada, Ömer Çelik said the commander under whom the Norwegian civilian worked must also be investigated.

“Is there no any chain of command? Does he [the civilian contracted person] not have a commander?”  Çelik said, underlining that this command chain should be investigated and necessary steps should be taken.

He added that NATO - an alliance that aims to ensure the security of its member states -- should ensure the security of its drills.
Turkey would continue to monitor the investigation of the incident and would like to ensure that such incidents did not happen ever again, he said.

He said the incident was similar to the method used by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), an illegal network engaged in a long-running attempt to overthrow of the Turkish government and which also orchestrated a deadly defeated coup in Turkey last year.

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