Atassut

Image:Atassut logo.svg

Atassut was established in late 1976 as a political movement of conservative and unionist forces in Greenland to oppose Siumut with Lars Chemnitz as its leading figure; however, it soon became more liberal.

Its first programme from January 1977 stated that its purpose was to "promote Greenlandic home rule within the Unity of the Realm" and "work against secession from the Danish realm."

Atassut was founded as a political party on 29 April 1978. The party's name literally translates as "link" (in the context of being linked with Denmark as part of the Danish realm), but can also refer to a roof which binds a house together.

Previously one of the two largest and most influential political parties in Greenland, the Atassut has seen its share of the popular vote consistently decline since the mid-1990s.

In the 2001 Folketing election, the party lost its only representative and has never regained a seat in the Danish parliament.

In the June 2009 snap election, the party dropped to 10.9% of the vote, and lost three of its six seats. In the following election in 2013 the party was reduced to two seats, which they maintained in the 2014 elections despite fewer votes. Both MPs later defected to Siumut, one of whom was its chairman Knud Kristiansen.{{Cite web|last=Kruse|first=Kathrine|date=2018-02-08|title=Atassut vil stoppe partihoppere ved klausul|trans-title=Atassut wants to stop party jumpers by clause|url=https://sermitsiaq.ag/atassut-stoppe-partihoppere-ved-klausul|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304213622/https://sermitsiaq.ag/atassut-stoppe-partihoppere-ved-klausul|archive-date=2018-03-04|access-date=2021-04-06|website=Sermitsiaq AG}}

From the 2014 parliamentary election to 2016, Atassut was a part of a coalition government, led by Kim Kielsen from Siumut, that also including the Inuit Ataqatigiit.

In debate of refugees in Greenland in 2017, Atassut and Atassut Youths have been strong on not accepting refugees in to Greenland, where Inuit Ataqatigiit and Siumut want to take in refugees.{{Cite web|last=Hansen|first=Nukappiaaluk|date=2017-02-01|title=Atassut Ungdom ønsker ikke at tage imod flygtninge|trans-title=Atassut Youth does not want to accept refugees|url=https://sermitsiaq.ag/node/193651|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-06|website=Sermitsiaq.AG|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201175923/http://sermitsiaq.ag/node/193651 |archive-date=2017-02-01 }}{{Cite web|last=Dollerup-Scheibel|first=Mads|date=2015-09-09|title=Steen Lynge: Grønland har ikke råd til flygtninge|trans-title=Steen Lynge: Greenland cannot afford refugees|url=https://sermitsiaq.ag/node/181799|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-06|website=Sermitsiaq.AG|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160123212134/http://sermitsiaq.ag/node/181799 |archive-date=2016-01-23 }}

In the 2018 general election, Atassut gained two seats in the Inatsisartut despite having no incumbents after both their MPs had defected to Siumut. In the 2021 election, Atassut retained its two seats.{{Cite web|title=Kalaallit Nunaanni Qinersinerit - Valg i Grønland - Elections in Greenland|url=https://qinersineq.gl/|access-date=2021-07-27|website=qinersineq.gl}} Following the election, Atassut offered external support to the governing coalition formed by the Inuit Ataqatigiit and Naleraq parties.{{Cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/greenlands-left-wing-ia-party-forms-new-government-vows-block-rare-earth-mine-2021-04-16/|title=Greenland's left-wing IA party forms new government, vows to block rare-earth mine|date=April 16, 2021|website=Reuters}}

Atassut has been referred to as liberal,{{cite book|author=Lars Toft Rasmussen|chapter=Greenlandic and Danish attitudes to Canadian Arctic Shipping|editor=Franklyn Griffiths|title=Politics of the Northwest Passage|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kDA3XNEiCH4C&pg=PA140|year=1987|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP|isbn=978-0-7735-0613-8|page=140}}{{cite book|editor=Andrew J. Hund|title=Antarctica and the Arctic Circle: A Geographic Encyclopedia of the Earth's Polar Regions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wRvFBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA316|year=2014|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-61069-393-6|page=316}} conservative,{{cite book |editor1-last=Maher |editor1-first=Joanne |title=The Europa World Year Book - 2008. |date=2008 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=9781857434514 |page=1552 |edition=49th}}{{cite book|editor=Diana Vinding|title=The Indigenous World 2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0t_CU9gmi8cC&pg=PA28|year=2004|publisher=IWGIA|isbn=978-87-90730-83-3|page=28}} and liberal-conservative. The party supports privatisation of public industries, a form of citizen's income, NATO co-operation, and Greenlandic affiliation with the European Union.

The party was previously opposed to Greenlandic home rule;{{Cite book|author=Loukacheva|first=Natalia|title=Arctic Promise: Legal and Political Autonomy of Greenland and Nunavut|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2007|isbn=9781442684874|page=61}} Atassut later shifted to supporting home rule and autonomy, but without leaving the unity of the Realm.{{Cite book|author=Loukacheva|first=Natalia|title=Arctic Promise: Legal and Political Autonomy of Greenland and Nunavut|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2007|isbn=9781442684874|page=55}} The party has moved from a traditional right-wing position towards later supporting the subsidisation of primary-sector business, alongside the centre-left Siumut party.

Atassut was already established as a political movement at the time of the Folketing election on 15 February 1977, and the three Atassut founders Arqalo Abelsen, Ole Berglund and Otto Steenholdt ran as an association of candidates, which got 8,391 votes and Otto Steenholdt elected.{{cite web|last=Oplysning|first=Folketingets|date=2005|title=Folketingsvalgene i Grønland 1977-2019|trans-title=The Parliamentary Elections in Greenland 1977-2019|url=http://www.ft.dk/~/media/sites/ft/pdf/folkestyret/valg-og-afstemninger/valgresultater-grnland.ashx?la=da|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-06|website=www.ft.dk|format=PDF|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170624154146/http://www.ft.dk:80/~/media/sites/ft/pdf/folkestyret/valg-og-afstemninger/valgresultater-grnland.ashx?la=da |archive-date=2017-06-24 }}

• 2019– Aqqalu Jerimiassen{{Cite web|last=Kristiansen|first=Kassaaluk|date=2019-11-09|title=Aqqalu Jerimiassen bliver formand for Atassut|trans-title=Aqqalu Jerimiassen becomes chairman of Atassut|url=https://sermitsiaq.ag/node/217352|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-06|website=Sermitsiaq.AG|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109220022/https://sermitsiaq.ag/node/217352 |archive-date=2019-11-09 }}
• 2017–2019 Siverth K. Heilmann{{Cite web|date=2017-02-19|title=Atassut har fået ny formand|trans-title=Atassut has a new chairman|url=https://sermitsiaq.ag/node/194221|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-06|website=Sermitsiaq.AG|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170327005231/http://sermitsiaq.ag/node/194221 |archive-date=2017-03-27 }}
• 2017 Qulutannguaq Inuk Berthelsen (acting; after Knud Kristiansen left the party){{cite news|last1=Hansen|first1=Nukappiaaluk|title=Fungerende formand: Erfarne politikere har flygtet fra ansvaret|url=http://sermitsiaq.ag/fungerende-formand-erfarne-politikere-flygtet-ansvaret|language=da|date=11 January 2017|access-date=12 January 2017|work=Sermitsiaq.ag}}
• 2014–2017 Knud Kristiansen{{Cite web|last=Krarup|first=Paul|date=2014-09-27|title=Knud Kristiansen er ny formand for Atassut|trans-title=Knud Kristiansen is the new chairman of Atassut|url=https://sermitsiaq.ag/node/171797|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-06|website=Sermitsiaq.AG|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150922205400/http://sermitsiaq.ag/node/171797 |archive-date=2015-09-22 }}
• 2009–2014 Gerhardt Petersen
• 2005–2009 Finn Karlsen
• 2002–2005 Augusta Salling{{Cite web|last=Sommer|first=Karsten Sommer|date=2005-01-19|title=Atassut klar med kandidatlisten|trans-title=Atassut ready with the candidate list|url=https://knr.gl/da/nyheder/atassut-klar-med-kandidatlisten|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-06|website=KNR|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209223815/http://knr.gl/da/nyheder/atassut-klar-med-kandidatlisten |archive-date=2014-12-09 }}
• 1993–2002 Daniel Skifte{{Cite web|url=https://jyllands-posten.dk/indland/ECE3285969/Otto-Steenholdt-ekskluderet-fra-Atassut/|title=Otto Steenholdt ekskluderet fra Atassut|date=May 1, 2000|website=jyllands-posten.dk}}
• 1989–1993 Konrad Steenholdt
• 1985–1989 Otto Steenholdt{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Swr9BTI_2FEC&q=Daniel+Skifte+atassut&pg=PA169|title=Encyclopedia of the Arctic|first=Mark|last=Nuttall|date=September 23, 2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136786808|via=Google Books}}{{cite web | title=Otto Steenholdt | website=Den Store Danske | date=2020-05-07 | url=https://denstoredanske.lex.dk/Otto_Steenholdt | language=da | access-date=2021-04-06}}
• 1979–1984 Lars Chemnitz{{cite web | title=Lars Chemnitz | website=Den Store Danske | date=2020-05-07 | url=https://denstoredanske.lex.dk/Lars_Chemnitz | language=da | access-date=2021-04-06}}

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20051201025308/http://www.atassut.gl/ Atassut official site (archive)]

{{Greenlandic political parties}}

{{Danish political parties}}

Category:Greenlandic unionism

Category:Nordic agrarian parties

Category:Conservative liberal parties

Category:Liberal parties in Greenland

Category:Political parties in Greenland

Category:1976 establishments in Greenland

Category:Political parties established in 1976

Category:Conservative parties in Greenland