This past week, European leaders found amusement in a joke concerning President Donald Trump’s frequent geographical errors.
The President seems to require a refresher in geography, as he tends to mix up two distinct countries repeatedly.
Trump has previously mentioned his efforts to ease longstanding tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
In an appearance on Fox News last month, Trump claimed he had ‘solved’ the conflict involving these nations.
“I solved wars that were unsolvable. Azerbaijan and Albania, it was going on for many, many years, I had the prime ministers and presidents in my office,” he stated to the news outlet.
It’s clear where the misunderstanding occurred.
At a summit in Copenhagen on Thursday (October 2), EU leaders were overheard chuckling about the mix-up.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama humorously addressed President Emmanuel Macron and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev during the session, telling Macron: “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,” as reported by Politico.
This light-hearted remark triggered laughter among the trio, with Macron responding: “I’m sorry for that.”
Despite the jest, Trump did facilitate a deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia’s leaders in August to resolve a conflict that has lasted nearly forty years.
President Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met at the White House and consented to a peace agreement, which remains unsigned.
Despite the lack of progress, the Republican has touted the agreement as a significant achievement for the US and himself.
In a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump addressed the situation, mispronouncing Azerbaijan as ‘Aber-baijan’, while mistakenly mentioning Albania again.
“I am very disappointed in the fact that that one’s not settled,” he remarked. “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.”
Recalling the White House meeting, Trump added: “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.”