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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gave NATO leaders engraved revolvers with live ammunition after the alliance’s summit in Ankara, turning a diplomatic gift exchange into a security and protocol problem for several delegations.
The personalised firearms were presented in boxes after leaders gathered in Turkey for talks focused on Ukraine, Iran, defence spending and relations with US President Donald Trump. Several officials described the gift as unexpected, with some leaders only learning the exact nature of the package after leaving Ankara.
Governments are now handling the weapons in different ways. Some revolvers were handed to police or security teams, some are being decommissioned, and others remained in Turkey while officials worked through customs and legal requirements.
Details
- Summit gift: Erdoğan gave NATO leaders personalised revolvers after the Ankara summit, with each weapon engraved with the recipient’s name. The guns were presented with six live rounds, turning what would normally be a routine diplomatic gift exchange into a security and protocol issue.
- Security response: Several delegations had to involve police, customs officials or security teams once the nature of the gifts became clear. Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever reportedly learned what he had received only after landing in Belgium and handed the revolver to airport police for secure storage.
- Different handling: Governments responded according to their own national rules. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s revolver is expected to be decommissioned and donated to a military museum, while some weapons given to leaders including Keir Starmer, Friedrich Merz and Rob Jetten remained in Ankara for the time being.
- Canada’s case: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he never saw the pistol and confirmed it was taken by the RCMP. Canadian officials said the firearm was deactivated, and Carney joked that his maple syrup gift to Erdoğan had “kind of undermatched” the revolver.
- Why it stood out: The gift came after a summit centred on Ukraine, Iran, NATO defence spending and relations with Trump. That made the symbolism harder to ignore, especially as alliance members discussed rearmament and a higher long-term defence spending target.
- No explanation yet: Turkey’s presidency did not immediately explain why revolvers were chosen as the official gift. That left delegations dealing not only with legal and security procedures, but also with the diplomatic awkwardness of receiving a weapon they could not simply carry home.
What to watch
- Several governments still need to decide whether the revolvers will be stored, decommissioned, displayed in museums or kept as official gifts.
- Turkey may face questions over why functional firearms with ammunition were chosen for NATO leaders, leaving an awkward footnote to a summit otherwise focused on Ukraine, Iran, defence spending and relations with the US.
