Mute Egede, who beforehand mentioned territory ‘not on the market’, underlined individuals’s need to be ‘grasp of personal home’.
Greenlanders don’t need to be American or Danish, the Arctic island’s prime minister has mentioned, after US President-elect Donald Trump refused to rule out utilizing navy pressure to amass the territory.
Prime Minister Mute Egede, who had insisted the territory was “not on the market” after Trump flagged his “possession and management” intentions final month, expressed his openness to have interaction with the US at a information convention in Copenhagen on Friday.
Nevertheless, he additionally underlined Greenland’s independence aspirations, which have gained momentum in recent times as Danish colonial abuses towards the predominantly Inuit inhabitants have come to mild.
“Greenland is for the Greenlandic individuals. We don’t need to be Danish, we don’t need to be American. We need to be Greenlandic,” he mentioned at a information convention alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
“We’ve a need for independence, a need to be the grasp of our personal home … That is one thing everybody ought to respect,” mentioned Egede.
“However that doesn’t imply we’re chopping all ties, all cooperation and all relations with Denmark,” he added.
He additionally famous that Greenland is a part of the North American continent, and “a spot that the People see as a part of their world”. He mentioned he was open to holding talks with Trump about what “unites us”.
“Cooperation is about dialogue. Cooperation signifies that you’ll work in the direction of options,” he mentioned.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who additionally attended the information convention, mentioned, “The controversy on Greenlandic independence and the most recent bulletins from the US present us the big curiosity in Greenland. Occasions which set in movement quite a lot of ideas and emotions with many in Greenland and Denmark.
“The US is our closest ally, and we’ll do all the things to proceed a robust cooperation,” she mentioned.
‘Absolute necessity’
Trump earlier this week refused to rule out utilizing military or economic force so as to deliver Greenland underneath US management. Trump mentioned final month that “possession and management” of Greenland was an “absolute necessity” for the US, because it seeks to counter rising Russian and Chinese language curiosity within the Arctic area.
Trump had beforehand floated shopping for Greenland throughout his first time period as president from 2017 to 2021, even suspending a 2019 go to to Denmark after Frederiksen rebuffed the concept.
A “non-public” visit to the territory this week by his son, Donald Trump Jr, sparked additional hypothesis that the president-elect would make a push to purchase Greenland when he takes workplace on January 20.
The US maintains a navy base within the northern a part of the strategically vital territory, dwelling to 57,000 individuals.
Greenland was a Danish colony from 1721 till 1953 however is now a self-governing Danish territory. In 2009, it secured the appropriate to assert independence by means of a vote.
