Minister for Europe opening remarks at Antalya Diplomacy Forum: Saturday 12 April
Source: gov.uk (2025-04-12)

Minister for Europe Stephen Doughty makes opening remarks at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Antalya, Turkey.

The principles are fundamental, and they are what is at stake here. And as Andrea said, this is not just a situation where we see a complete violation of those principles that were in the Helsinki Final Act, that we all stood by, and we have stood by for those 50 years. But it’s also the UN Charter that is fundamentally under threat by Russia’s aggression.

And of course, this isn’t just the aggression we’ve seen against Ukraine. It’s the other hybrid and destabilizing activities that they prosecute across our continents against our democracies more generally, and whether that’s disruptions, attempted disruptions, in the Western Balkans or in Moldova or elsewhere.

This has consequences for all of us, and this matters for everybody in this room. It matters for everybody in the room if those principles of territorial integrity and sovereignty are not abided by, and it matters deeply for all of our people. Most importantly for the people of Ukraine at the moment, but for all of us.

I was in Kyiv just a few weeks ago, and I could hear in the background the alarm going off there. For Ukrainians in the room, this would probably be the air raid alarm on their on their phones, because Ukraine is seeing that escalation every night, civilians being attacked and killed.

I was in Bucha, which saw some of the worst, appalling atrocities that we’ve seen since the start of this conflict, and seeing those mass graves and others, but also hearing about how just the night before, how drones have come and killed civilians, and how children and others have been taken away and still no idea where those where those young people and those civilians are. That is a brutal attack on the values that all of us in this room stand for. So I think we must absolutely recognize what’s at stake here.

That’s why we as the UK are 100% ironclad in our support behind Ukraine, not just for now, but for 100 years into the future. It’s why we’re working with our NATO partners and allies here. And it’s a genuine pleasure to be with friends - it’s a genuine pleasure to be here in Antalya and to be hosted by our Turkish allies and friends. And it’s why we must double down, not only on the support for Ukraine, but also for European, Euro-Atlantic security more generally - that’s what we’re doing.

That’s the leadership the Prime Minister and President Macron are showing, working with President Trump on that secure and sustainable peace for Ukraine. Which Ukraine again has come forward from, and yet we do not see that same response from Moscow. And President Erdoğan very clearly set out yesterday the importance that that peace has to be sustainable. And that’s going to come through those of us who are willing to get in there, to put boots on the ground, to get the support to ensure that Ukrainian forces are able to defend, deter against future aggression. But also that we as NATO partners are stepping up, particularly European partners here, for our own defence.

That is what we’re doing with our spending. That’s what we’re doing with our commitments. But this matters not just for us. It matters for the globe. It matters for us in this room, because these are fundamental principles that have been attacked here by Moscow.