Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan created diplomatic and logistical complications at the Ankara NATO summit by gifting personalized Gumusay .357 Magnum revolvers and live ammunition to attending world leaders. Intended to showcase Turkey's growing defense industry, the gifts triggered security headaches due to strict European gun laws. Leaders like Keir Starmer and Friedrich Merz left their weapons in Turkey, while others like Bart De Wever handed theirs to airport police upon landing.
Erdogan NATO revolver gifts
- ▪Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gifted engraved revolvers and live ammunition to NATO leaders at the Ankara summit
- ▪Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan paired the revolver with a signed copy of his English-language biography, a personal letter, and a fountain pen
- ▪Each revolver was presented in a wooden display box featuring the Turkish flag, the NATO logo, and a personalized engraving of the recipient's name
- ▪The gifted weapon is the Gumusay .357 Magnum, a vintage six-shot revolver produced in the 1990s by Turkish state arms manufacturer MKE
Historical diplomatic firearm gifts
- ▪In the 1850s, Samuel Colt presented custom-engraved revolvers to Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid I and Russian Tsar Nicholas I to secure military contracts
- ▪In 1959, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev gifted engraved shotguns to US President Dwight Eisenhower and Secretary of Defence Neil McElroy
- ▪In 2019, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš presented a gold-plated CZ 75 pistol to US President Donald Trump
NATO leaders' gift reactions
- ▪Croatian President Zoran Milanović derisively commented on the gift, stating that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had palmed off weapons to them
- ▪Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar shared a photograph of his personalized Magnum revolver and ammunition on social media, calling it an unusual gift
- ▪Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney joked that his gift of maple syrup undermatched the revolver and confirmed the firearm was in police possession
Turkish arms export ambitions
- ▪Turkey was the world's third-largest exporter of small arms between 2019 and 2024, with exports totaling approximately $3 billion
- ▪The revolver gift was intended to showcase Turkey's growing defense industry, which has transitioned from a major importer to a self-reliant producer
Gift handling security protocols
- ▪The revolvers gifted to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten were left at their respective embassies in Ankara
- ▪British Prime Minister Keir Starmer left his revolver in Turkey with British officials to be decommissioned due to UK import laws
- ▪Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever discovered the firearm after landing in Brussels and immediately handed it to airport police for safekeeping
- ▪European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arranged for her gifted revolver to be decommissioned and donated to a military museum
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