Albania’s Edi Rama has mocked the US president for mixing up Albania and Armenia
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has taken a jab at US President Donald Trump after the latter claimed to have settled the conflict between Albania and Azerbaijan – confusing the Balkan country with Armenia in the South Caucasus.
Footage shared on social media shows Rama walking up to French President Emmanuel Macron and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev with a tongue-in-cheek remark at a summit in Denmark on Thursday.
“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,” Rami is heard telling Macron.
PM of Albania having a good laugh with President of Azerbaijan and Macron about Trump repeatedly claiming that he ended the war between their two countries which were not at war with each other. pic.twitter.com/5lP6XTps2J
“I am sorry for that,” Macron is heard replying, with all three leaders laughing.
The quip referred to Trump’s state visit to the UK two weeks earlier, where he cited the “settlement of Aber-baijan (sic) and Albania” as an example of his peacemaking record, mispronouncing Azerbaijan while confusing Albania with Armenia.
Armenia and Azerbaijan, both former Soviet republics, were locked in conflict for decades over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh before Azerbaijan retook it in 2023. In August, the leaders of the two countries initialed a US-brokered peace declaration, renouncing territorial claims and pledging to abstain from the use of force, though the agreement has yet to come into effect. France has urged both sides to finalize the treaty, with Macron casting the deal as vital for European security.
Trump’s latest slip added to a long record of geographical blunders. He has called Belgium a “beautiful city,” invented the country of “Nambia” at a UN luncheon, confused the Baltics with the Balkans, and once hailed “the Prince of Whales.” Other US presidents have also stumbled – George W. Bush famously praised Australia’s leader for visiting “Austrian troops” in Iraq, while Joe Biden mixed up Syria with Libya and Colombia with Venezuela.
