NUUK, Greenland — Greenland’s prime minister declared Wednesday that “Greenland is ours” and can’t be taken or purchased in defiance of a message from U.S. President Donald Trump, who mentioned his administration supported the Arctic island’s right of self-determination — however added that america will purchase the territory “a technique or one other.”
Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede mentioned the island’s residents are usually not American nor Danish as a result of they’re Greenlandic. America wants to know that, he wrote in a publish in Greenlandic and Danish on Fb Wednesday.
The way forward for Greenland shall be determined by its folks, he wrote.
His publish got here hours after Trump made a direct enchantment to Greenlanders in a speech to Congress on Tuesday, every week earlier than islanders head to the polls for parliamentary elections.
“We strongly assist your proper to find out your personal future, and should you select, we welcome you into america of America,” Trump mentioned.
“We are going to hold you secure. We are going to make you wealthy. And collectively we are going to take Greenland to heights like you might have by no means thought attainable earlier than,” he added.
However Trump additionally mentioned his administration was “working with everyone concerned to attempt to get it,” referring to his needs to acquire Greenland from Denmark, a longtime U.S. ally.
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“We’d like it actually for worldwide world safety. And I feel we’re going to get it. By some means, we’re going to get it,” Trump mentioned.
Many in Greenland, a vast and mineral-rich island that could be a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, are frightened and offended by Trump’s threats to seize control of homeland.
Requested about Trump’s feedback, Denmark’s overseas minister mentioned Wednesday he didn’t suppose Greenlanders needed to separate from Denmark with a view to as a substitute turn into “an built-in a part of America.”
Lars Løkke Rasmussen sought to strike an optimistic tone, saying he believed that Trump’s reference to respecting Greenlanders’ proper to self-determination was “a very powerful a part of that speech.”
“I’m very optimistic about what shall be a Greenlandic determination about this. They need to loosen their ties to Denmark, we’re engaged on that, to have a extra equal relationship,” the minister mentioned throughout a trip to Finland.
Løkke added that it was essential that subsequent week’s parliamentary elections are free and truthful “with none sort of worldwide intervention.”
Greenlanders will head to the polls Tuesday. Trump’s latest feedback about taking on the island have ignited unprecedented curiosity in full independence from Denmark, which has turn into a key subject throughout marketing campaign season.
