Greenland dispute a concern for NATO, says Polish FM
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has told an Italian daily newspaper that he is concerned that US threats to take over Greenland could sow divisions within NATO, drawing comparisons with a past internal conflict in the alliance.
"We already had one clash within NATO, the one between Greece and Turkey in 1974," he said in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, published on Monday, referring to the conflict over Cyprus. "This is not an experience to be repeated."
Commenting on Danish Prime Minister Mette Fredriksen's remark that a takeover of Greenland would spell the end of NATO, Sikorski said a world in which larger nations can seize the territories of their neighbours without consequence "is a world in which you freeze in your own home in winter and can be bombed at any moment."
In his view, Poland faced a difficult choice: "We want to be a good ally of the US, but Denmark is a geographically closer partner and an indispensable ally in maintaining control over the Baltic Sea."
Sikorski added that if US President Donald Trump was determined to expand US territory, little could be done to stop him. "But if he wants to provide Greenland with security guarantees to counter the ambitions of other powers, we have a wide field of action."
"We could not wish for anything more than for common sense to prevail," he concluded.
Trump has repeatedly called on Copenhagen to hand over or sell the world's biggest island to the United States, citing national security concerns. In a recent interview with the New York Times newspaper, he suggested that the Washington might ultimately be forced to choose between Greenland and NATO. (PAP)
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