ILULISSAT, Greenland (AP) — Greenlandic lawmakers on Tuesday voted to approve an agreement between the Arctic island, Denmark and the United States to strengthen security in the Arctic and North Atlantic after months of pressure by U.S. President Donald Trump seeking to control the semiautonomous territory of a NATO ally.
The trilateral deal paves the way for more U.S. bases in Greenland and eases tensions over Trump's repeated calls for the vast island
to become part of the United States. The agreement's goal is to bolster the U.S. military presence on Greenland but keep the self-governing island under Danish control. It would still apply if Greenland eventually chooses independence.
Greenlandic lawmakers voted 16-0 for the agreement, with seven abstentions, in the capital city of Nuuk.
Some 570 kilometers (350 miles) north of Nuuk, Nukaaka Lund-Mathaeussen hoped that the deal's approval means the Trump administration “got what they wanted.”
“Hopefully after this we won’t be getting underhanded threats from the American government," the 28-year-old Ilulissat resident told The Associated Press in Ilulissat after the vote.
William Tukula, a 34-year-old chef in Ilulissat, said he’d seen posts on Facebook from older Greenlanders who were “a little bit scared about Trump and soldiers.”
The U.S. president had previously said he would not rule out the use of military force to seize control of Greenland because he declared U.S. control of it to be vital to American national security, though he also underlined his support for Greenlanders determining their own future. He later backed down from any threat.
Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen signed the security agreement in September on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
Nielsen, in a post on Facebook after Tuesday's vote, said Greenlanders stood united over the last few months despite the geopolitical tensions to show the world that the island decides its own fate.
“We must be able to cooperate with other countries,” he wrote, adding that the cooperation must respect “our people, our country and our rights.”
He added: “Greenland is our country. Greenland will always be our country."
Danish lawmakers are set to debate it later this month. The deal will “enter into force” once the “necessary parliamentary processes of the Kingdom of Denmark, in conjunction with Greenland, have been completed.”
Despite the Greenland parliament's approval, Lund-Mathaeussen said some residents on the island felt worried and powerless. “What can a regular guy like me do about the diplomatic engine?" the municipality worker said. "It’s a big machine, and being a small person here in Greenland — it’s hard to have any influences on those things.”
Nukaaraq Thomsen, a 43-year-old incineration plant worker from Ilulissat, said the trilateral deal still won't benefit Greenlanders.
“My opinion is it’s safe for Greenland. But not for the people — only for the land," Thomsen told the AP on Tuesday.
In expanding its military presence on the island, the agreement says Washington is to award contracts for goods and services related to setting up, maintaining or dismantling such bases “to Greenlandic sources to the maximum extent possible.”
But Lars Erik Gabrielsen, mayor of Avannaata Municipality, is not convinced that Greenlanders will see any advantages.
“It’s a good deal for Denmark, NATO. Not a good deal for us," he said. "There are no benefits, no money to our society. Zero.”
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Dazio reported from Berlin and Manenkov reported from Tallinn, Estonia.
