UPDATE - Turkey says FETO terror group role in NATO incident

UPDATES WITH FURTHER QUOTES FROM CAVUSOGLU, EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Fatih Hafiz Mehmet

ANKARA (AA) - The Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) was involved in a recent NATO drill that led Turkey to withdraw its troops, Deputy Prime Minister Hakan Cavusoglu said Wednesday.

Turkey withdrew 40 soldiers from last week’s computer-based exercise in Norway after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish Republic founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk were depicted as “enemies”.

Speaking at Anadolu Agency’s Editors’ Desk, Cavusoglu said FETO, the group behind last year’s defeated coup in Turkey, played a role in the incident.

“We see these attitudes, these kinds of things mostly as tactics of members of FETO,” he said, referring to Turkish military officers with FETO ties who had been previously posted to NATO.

FETO, which staged the July 15 coup that resulted in 250 martyrs, used some countries as a “buttress” for their goals, he added.

There were “circles that feel raw” about Turkey's opposition to “the new world plan”, Cavusoglu said.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg apologized to Turkey and Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar over the use of Erdogan’s name and Ataturk’s picture on an “enemy chart” during the drills.

Ankara accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.