Speech by Sir Richard Moore, Chief of SIS, 19 September 2025

Sir Richard Moore, Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, spoke about the launch of a new dark web portal to recruit spies for the UK.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It is so good to be back in my second home, Turkey, a country in which my wife and I are privileged to have lived for eight years, most recently when I served as British Ambassador for four fascinating years from 2014 through 2017.  

But my connection with Turkey started much earlier in 1989 when, as a young language student, I arrived in Istanbul to board with a Turkish family for several weeks to improve my newly learnt Turkish language. I fell in love with this marvellous country, its extraordinarily hospitable people, its fabulous cuisine and stunning combination of history and breathtaking scenery… and I fell in love with Besiktas football club! The bond with Turkey was cemented by the arrival of my daughter, born here in Istanbul, a true Istanbullu. 

But I didn’t just choose Istanbul for this speech for reasons of sentiment, I did so because, as it has been for centuries, Turkey is a nation of pivotal importance to the international system. On almost all of the issues that I have grappled with as Chief of MI6, Turkey has been a key player.  

A NATO ally, Turkey has been a staunch supporter of Ukrainian sovereignty and independence, moved especially by the plight of their ethnic cousins, the Tatars of the Crimea, but committed above all to international law and the UN charter. To their east they share the UK’s interest in a stable Caucasus and Central Asia free from malign external influence. And to the south we have worked together against so-called Islamic State terrorists and to shore up the stability of post Assad Syria.