European leaders have been filmed mocking U.S. President Donald Trump after he made a geographical mix-up.
Trump has repeatedly confused Armenia with Albania when talking about a decades-long conflict with Azerbaijan, referring to a peace deal that he brokered.
At the EU leaders' summit in Copenhagen on Thursday, leaders were heard making light of the situation and laughing about the gaffe.
Highlights
- EU leaders laughed at Trump’s repeated confusion of Armenia with Albania regarding the Azerbaijan conflict.
- Albanian PM Edi Rama jokingly told Macron that he should apologize for not congratulating Albania on the peace deal.
- Trump claimed to have solved seven wars, including the Azerbaijan conflict, but this has been disputed by AP analysis.
Edi Rama joked to Emmanuel Macron and Ilham Aliyev about the mix-up
Image credits: Armando Babani/Getty Images
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama was standing with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and French President Emmanuel Macron when he made a joke about the mix-up.
“You should make an apology … to us because you didn’t congratulate us on the peace deal that President Trump made between Albania and Azerbaijan,” Rama told Macron.
The trio laughed, with Macron replying, “I am sorry for that.”
“He worked very hard,” Rama continued, to more laughter from the leaders.
In August, Trump hosted the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the White House to help broker a deal to end decades of fighting between the two nations.
While the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan agreed to a peace deal, the treaty was only preliminarily approved, and the deal has not yet been ratified.
However, Trump has repeatedly referenced the meeting as a victory when talking about his peacemaking efforts, claiming he has “solved” seven wars.
Recent analysis from AP has found that the claim is false, with some of those conflicts either seen as not resolved, or not tense enough to warrant the claim of war.
Image credits: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Speaking on Fox News last month, Trump said, “I solved wars that was unsolvable.
“Azerbaijan and Albania, it was going on for many, many years, I had the prime ministers and presidents in my office.”
He also confused Albania with Armenia at a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and butchered the pronunciation of Azerbaijan.
“I am very disappointed in the fact that that one’s not settled,” he said. “To think that we settled, Aber-baijan, and Albania, as an example. It was going on for years. It was never gonna be settled.
“If you remember the prime minister and the presidents and they were there for many years, they said when they were in my office, we settled.”
Trump has repeatedly confused Armenia with Albania
Trump also said that at the end of the White House meeting, all three leaders hugged.
“And they started off at both sides of the Oval Office, so far away, I didn’t know you could be so far away. And as we were together for an hour, they kept getting closer and closer and by the time we finished, we all hugged each other.”
The joke at the EU leaders' summit Thursday came as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had to leave the conference early after a terror attack in England.
Two people were killed in an attack outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Image credits: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Three other people remain in hospital in a serious condition after a man drove a car into members of the public and launched a stabbing attack.
The suspect, who was shot dead by armed police at the scene, has been named as 35-year-old Jihad Al-Shamie, a British citizen of Syrian descent.
The two men who died have been named by police as Adrian Daulby, 53, and 66-year-old Melvin Cravitz.
Three other people have been arrested in connection with the incident.