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US President Donald Trump has revived his claim from earlier this year that Greenland, the semi-autonomous Arctic territory of Denmark, “should be controlled by the United States”, apparently reversing months of diplomacy earlier this year to get him to drop the demand.
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Trump made his remarks not long after arriving in Ankara for the annual two-day NATO summit.
“Greenland doesn’t help Denmark,” he told reporters. “Denmark doesn’t spend money to really help Greenland, but it’s an important part for the United States, and it’s surrounded by China’s ships and Russian ships.”
Trump went on to admit that his previous designs on Greenland last January, where he refused to rule out using military force to take control the territory, had “hurt” relations with NATO allies.
Earlier on at the NATO Defence Industry Forum, allies from Canada and Europe pledged around €50 billion of defence investment under the banner of “NATO 3.0”. Their plan had been for this year’s summit to go off relatively drama-free, with the main message being that the alliance is investing record sums in its collective security.
Within an hour of landing in Ankara, Trump had dashed his fellow leaders’ hopes. Almost immediately upon landing, he once again castigated his allies for not joining in the war in Iran, saying he was “very disappointed with NATO” and reiterating his claim that Europe and Canada had “abandoned” the US when it took military action against Iran alongside Israel last February.
“I say that’s fine, but you would think that they’d be very willing to do something to help us, and they really weren’t,” said Trump to reporters.
“Frankly, if it weren’t held in Turkey, where my friend happens to be a very strong leader, a very strong person, it’s possible that I wouldn’t have attended,” he said of the host, Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. “I felt I had to attend because of the fact that, you know, I know he’s gone all out.”
Erdoğan welcomed Trump at Beştepe Presidential Palace with cannons firing, a military band, and a guard of honour.
“You are a leader respected all over the world,” US President Trump told Erdoğan, adding he considers him a “great friend”.
“I just want to say that I have a lot of respect for the president, and I think it’s really to the benefit of both countries … it’s an honour to be with you, and we’re going to have a lot of good meetings.”
But Erdoğan might have more than friendship in mind, as Trump also told the press that he was considering readmitting Turkey into the US F35 fighter jet programme.
‘That’s a decision we’re going to make… it’s a great plane, the best plane by far, and it’s certainly something we will consider,” Trump said.
Turkey’s access to was suspended in 2019 by a Congressional order after Ankara purchased the Russian-made S-400 air defence system. US lawmakers and security officials cited security concerns, saying S-400 could be a threat to US-made systems.
