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Turkey hosts NATO drill

24 November 2017 16:50 (UTC+04:00)
Turkey hosts NATO drill

By Kamila Aliyeva

Turkey is hosting a NATO drill on November 24 with the participation of naval, air force and coast guard commanders as well as troops from Turkey and NATO countries amid strained ties over Norway incident.

The Turkish Air Force and Navy will participate in NATO exercises NUSRET-2017, which is being held on November 25 - December 4 in the Gulf of Saros, an inlet of the northern Aegean Sea, the Turkish General Staff said in a message.

Each year Turkey organizes a mine warfare exercise named after the famous minelayer Nusret.

The aim of the exercises is to work with mine barriers and to develop cooperation in the course of these operations between the military of participating countries

The Armed Forces of Turkey, Great Britain, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria will take part in the exercises, and representatives of Azerbaijan, Algeria, Qatar, Romania, Slovenia and Turkmenistan will monitor them.

Participants will also test finding and neutralizing mines, using divers, sonar as well as remotely operated vehicles.

Earlier, 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.

There is also growing tension 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.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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