'The American Ambition...' Denmark Publicly Rejects Trump's Greenland Push at United Nations

[0:00] My name is Daisuke Iijima from NHK Japan. [0:02] So my question is about Greenland. [0:06] What? [0:06] About Greenland. [0:08] So when your country is facing the threats from Russia, [0:12] but at the same time you are facing a problem with the United States, [0:16] how do you plan to manage our presidency? [0:20] I think we are very ready to handle our presidency, [0:23] and that's not something that we see as a challenge. [0:26] I mean, we've been very clear. [0:27] The Danish and Greenlandic governments have consistently rejected [0:32] the American ambition to take over Greenland. [0:34] And does Denmark see any role for the Council to play in verifying, [0:40] first, the integration agreement between the Syrian Democratic Forces and Damascus? [0:47] And secondly, the presidential decree number 13 on Kurdish citizenship and language rights. [0:54] And my second question is on the Kurdistan region in Iraq. [0:59] The U.S. troops have reportedly withdrawn their defense systems from the region [1:05] as they're going to withdraw their troops in September. [1:10] And the Kurdish region says Baghdad is not doing enough to protect them from drone attacks and missiles. [1:17] I wonder if there is something that the Council can do to protect civilians in regions like Kurdistan [1:23] that has some kind of unique situation where the central government [1:28] might not be doing enough to protect people there. [1:31] Thank you. [1:32] Which media are you? [1:34] Sorry. [1:34] I'm Namo Abdullah with Ruda Media Network. [1:36] Thank you. [1:37] Thank you. [1:38] Thanks a lot. [1:39] We'll take one more at least. [1:41] One else? [1:46] That's it? [1:46] Can you give me another question? [1:54] I'll think about it. [1:56] If we tell you what it is, then I'll think about it. [1:58] Just a quick follow-up on the next straw poll. [2:03] Do you expect the Council members to do color-coded voting in this round? [2:15] All right. [2:17] Well, first to Syria and the Syrian transition. [2:20] And again, we never want to be too optimistic in this business. [2:26] And Syria has been through a horrible 14 years of internal civil war. [2:32] Basically started as an uprising, but that's what it developed into. [2:35] And I have to say, we've been quite positively, cautiously, but positively surprised by the developments in Syria [2:44] since the 8th of December, 2024. [2:46] We went as a council to Syria to actually show our support in the sense that I think Syria is one of the topics on the council agenda [2:55] after the fall of the Assad regime, that there is relative agreement. [3:00] I say relative because we never agree on everything on the council, and that's how it is, [3:03] on trying to support this new transitional government and the new Syria, as they call it. [3:11] But also, of course, keeping them up to their own principles and the principles we have all set out, of course, [3:18] in the resolution that's still in place. [3:21] So that's one of the reasons we went to Syria. [3:23] That's also, I understand, not completely, but almost the same reason also the Secretary General just went last week. [3:29] We also talked to him as council members after he came back, and he was also quite positive. [3:36] What we've been focusing on is to keep the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Syria, [3:41] but we also keep reminding of some of the principles about inclusive government and transitional justice. [3:47] We just had Carla Quintana in town two weeks ago talking about the missing persons file, [3:53] and we had the two heads of the Syrian commissions also here on transitional justice also. [3:56] And, of course, all of that includes the question of inclusion of the Kurdish communities in the transition process. [4:04] And I think we have been quite impressed that it was possible to make the deal, decree number 13, [4:10] including also the question of citizenship, having myself served in Syria before the war and during the beginning of the war. [4:17] I know how much that was an issue for the Kurdish population there, the question of citizenship. [4:21] So that seems to us to be a good development. [4:23] So, again, we want to encourage the very positive stuff we've seen by the new Syrian transitional government [4:28] and try to help them as much as we can as a council. [4:30] And I think on this issue we might actually have a little bit more traction since we pretty much agree on what needs to be done here. [4:38] We don't want to see another failed state in the Levant, and we're happy for the Syrian people that there seems to be a different way forward right now. [4:46] On the color-coded, it's typically something that happens in one of the later rounds. [4:52] We have not sort of agreed on when that would happen. [4:56] I think that would normally happen if we're sure that the next round is close to something where we have a final candidate that we can all agree on. [5:03] I'm not sure we're there yet. [5:04] It would be typically, I think I was told, in one of the two final rounds last time. [5:11] Last year, not last year, but last time in 2016, I think there were six rounds, and this happened maybe in the second to last round. [5:18] So without having discussed this with my colleagues, yet I would not assume that we would have color-coded ballots already in this round. [5:25] Can you please answer the Kurdistan region question as well? [5:29] Iraq? [5:29] Oh, sorry. [5:29] Yes, I probably forgot about it because I don't know too much about it. [5:33] And again, your question about whether the council can act on this if the Kurdish community doesn't feel protected by its capital, that's something I would have to look into at least. [5:47] And sometimes, usually, we will have somebody also asking the council to discuss this issue. [5:51] And so far, it's not something that's been raised with us, but that's certainly something I would look into. [5:56] So thank you for raising it here. [5:57] Okay, thanks a lot. [6:01] I think I didn't see a lot of hands, so we have time for two more questions, I think. [6:05] We don't have to... [6:06] Yeah, it's okay if there are no more questions. [6:08] Ah, okay, good. [6:09] No, but I think we need to also hear some who haven't had a chance to pose questions. [6:13] So down there in the room. [6:13] Thank you very much. [6:14] So my name is Daisuke Iijima from NHK Japan. [6:18] So my question is about Greenland. [6:21] Of what school? [6:22] About Greenland. [6:23] So when your country is facing the threats from Russia, but at the same time, you are facing a problem with the United States. [6:31] How do you plan to manage a presidency? [6:36] I think we are very ready to handle our presidency, and that's not something that we see as a challenge. [6:42] I mean, we've been very clear. [6:43] The Danish and Greenlandic governments have consistently rejected the American ambition to take over Greenland. [6:49] There is a diplomatic track that we have now agreed on. [6:52] We, of course, want to address completely the legitimate American concerns about security in the Arctic or the higher north, [7:01] while respecting Danish and Greenlandic red lines. [7:04] And those red lines are, for the Kingdom of Denmark, respect of our territorial integrity and sovereignty, [7:10] and for the Greenlandic government, it's about their respect for the Greenlandic people's right to self-determination. [7:15] So that's what I can say. [7:16] There is a diplomatic process now, and that's what I can say from here. [7:20] All right. [7:21] Okay, great. [7:22] Thanks a lot. [7:22] I think one last question, and then we bring it to a close. [7:26] Get the second chance. [7:27] Thank you again. [7:30] Your country has an office for Palestinian representation in Copenhagen for many years. [7:35] You have good relations with the Palestinians. [7:37] I know that. [7:38] But how can you keep delaying recognizing the Palestinian state? [7:45] Thank you. [7:45] The way my government has seen this is that we want to do recognition whenever we feel it makes a difference. [7:52] And for a long time, it was already affected by one side in the conflict. [7:57] Now we've said very clearly last year, this was in connection with the New York declaration, [8:01] that this is up to the Palestinians really to decide. [8:04] We would recognize as independent Palestinian state once certain conditions are met. [8:08] Those include reform of the PEA. [8:10] Those include, this was also during the conflict in Gaza, the release of all the hostages we had. [8:16] We have several conditions that are out there. [8:18] So we basically say now this is in the ball of the court of the Palestinians, and that's when we will look into recognition. [8:24] So there's no new on our recognition right now. [8:27] As you said, we've had a Palestinian representative office, which was a couple of years ago, enhanced to ambassador level in Copenhagen for years. [8:36] And the question of recognition is something we continuously look into and assess and evaluate. [8:41] Thank you. [8:42] The question is online. [8:43] We don't have any online. [8:46] That's interesting because I was told we didn't have online. [8:50] We don't have online. [8:50] I'm a bit surprised to hear that. [8:56] All right. [8:56] I think we decided to just have questions in the room today. [8:59] Only questions for the room. [9:00] Yeah, so that was the way it was set up today. [9:03] But thank you so much all for coming out once again. [9:06] I hope to see you a lot this month in spite of the summer month. [9:10] At least you would be here. [9:11] That's great. [9:13] And looking forward for your cooperation this month. [9:16] Thank you so much. [9:17] Thank you. [9:18] And can I just say, if you want to be on our distribution list, I need your business cards. [9:24] Thank you. [9:24] Thank you. [9:33] Thank you. [9:33] Thank you.