Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has warned that “we live in a troubled world, the worst in memory” in his Anzac Day dawn service speech at Gallipoli in Turkey today.
Peters delivered his comments as New Zealanders and Australians around the world marked the occasion and paid their respects.
“From the distant Pacific Ocean, we arrive with humility upon your land,” he told the crowd at Gallipoli’s Anzac Cove.
“Our footprints and your footprints are joined forever.
“The fallen warriors of our people and your people rest together within your ancestral soil. Rest in peace.”
Later, I have addressed the symbolism of the dawn ceremony.
“Dawn begins each day. Sunrise speaks to the promise of a better day. From a long-ago battlefield to this morning’s promise, we must leave this ground dedicated to making our worlds better. Then the men buried here will not have died in vain .
“Yet we live in a troubled world, the worst in memory.”
I have tied this trouble to the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing global conflicts.
“We have emerged from a global pandemic a more divided world. Regional instabilities and the chaos they create threaten the security of too many. So we must all do more, demand more and deliver more.
“Never has diplomacy been more needed to de-escalate conflicts and ease tensions.
“That is our lesson and resolve when leaving Gallipoli today.
“You will create your own memories and draw your own lessons from being here – but we must all come together, as people and as nations, to do more to honor those who paid with their lives.”
Peters marked the occasion in Turkey with a contingent from the New Zealand Defense Force – whose role in the ceremony was set to be more wall-back than usual after luggage troubles left them short of instruments and uniforms.
“We must protect and care for our young,” Peters told the crowd. “We must reject and resist those who seek to conquer and control.
“We must always seek the path of peace.
“Then, and only then, will the men buried here not have died in vain.”
