Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gave engraved revolvers and live ammunition to leaders attending this week’s NATO summit in Ankara, prompting a legal and security scramble among several delegations over how to transport, store or officially register the unusual gifts.
The presents were Turkish-made Sarsılmaz SR 38 revolvers engraved with the names of the leaders, according to the German dpa news agency.
Some Turkish outlets described them as “Gümüşay” pistols, while dpa reported that each weapon came with a box of ammunition and a document signed by Erdoğan allowing it to be taken out of Turkey.
The revolvers were produced by the state-owned Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKE), according to reports and a photo shared by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was the first to publicly mention the gift, telling reporters on his flight home Wednesday that each leader had received a revolver engraved with their name, along with live rounds.
Starmer said he had to leave the weapon in Turkey because bringing it into Britain would be illegal, despite the Turkish export document.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also left his revolver in Turkey for the time being. A German government spokesman told dpa that the weapon had been handed over to the German Embassy in Ankara so it could be properly imported and entered into the official gift inventory.
Several officials from NATO member states described the gift as surprising, with one saying it had led to “insane” scenes among security teams trying to determine how to handle the firearms and ammunition, Agence France-Presse reported.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever learned the exact nature of the gift only after landing in Belgium, an official told AFP.
“The prime minister was surprised and immediately handed it over to airport police so it could be put in a secure safe and the matter was handled in accordance with relevant procedures,” the official said.
De Wever’s security team also handled the revolvers given to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa, both of whom are based in Brussels.
Politico cited two EU officials as confirming that von der Leyen and Costa had also received personalized revolvers, a box of ammunition and a cleaning kit.
One European Council official said Belgian procedures would be followed to bring the weapon into the country and that it would then be stored under security conditions set by the Council’s General Secretariat.
Another official said the gift could violate strict limits on the value of gifts EU officials are allowed to accept, making it unlikely that the weapon would be kept personally.
Von der Leyen “expressed her thanks” to Erdoğan for the gift, her spokesman said, adding that the weapon would be decommissioned and donated to a military museum.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney took his revolver with him but left the ammunition in Turkey, Canadian officials said, without explaining why.
The weapon given to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson “will have to be transported to Sweden in accordance with all applicable procedures,” his team told AFP.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki’s revolver arrived safely but with special precautions. The issue was particularly sensitive in Poland because in 2022 the country’s police chief was injured when a grenade launcher he had received as a gift from Ukraine exploded in his office.
This time, “it is certain that no one is going to fire it,” an aide to Nawrocki told a local radio station.
The Turkish Presidency has not publicly commented on the gifts.
The Ankara summit, held July 7 and 8 at the presidential complex, was the second NATO summit hosted by Turkey, after İstanbul in 2004. Leaders used the meeting to discuss Ukraine, Iran, relations with US President Donald Trump and NATO’s defense spending and weapons production commitments.
The gifts sparked criticism from some commentators, who said firearms sent an odd message at a summit focused on alliance unity and security.
British historian Simon Sebag Montefiore said on X that gun gifts, often gold-plated or engraved, were “totems of macho Mafia autocratic Caesarism,” adding that Erdoğan’s gift to NATO leaders signaled “how power is won and kept.”
The gift of guns – often goldplated and engraved – are the totems of macho Mafia autocratic Caesarism that is on the rise even in the West.
This gift from Erdogan to acquiesant Nato leaders signals how power is won and kept, trolling the West with its own moral hipocrisy… https://t.co/Bn6HBj2UDU
— S Sebag Montefiore (@simonmontefiore) July 9, 2026
Retired Turkish diplomat Selim Kuneralp said Turkey could be proud that the summit had passed without disruption but questioned the choice of gift.
He said European media were now discussing the custom-made guns and bullets given to leaders, adding that he wished Turkey had chosen gifts that better represented its culture rather than firearms that evoked “oil-rich Arab sheikhdoms.”
İktidar 34 yabancı devlet ve hükümet başkanının (31 NATO üyesi, ayrıca Kore, Suriye ve Ukrayna) katıldığı Ankara zirvesinde herhangi bir aksama meydana gelmemiş olmasından haklı bir şekilde iftihar edebilir.
Bugünkü Avrupa basınında AB Konseyi ve Komisyon Başkanları, Birleşik…— Selim Kuneralp (@kuneralpS) July 9, 2026
While heads of state often exchange gifts at summits and official visits, the presentation of functional firearms, live ammunition and cleaning kits is unusual because of the export, import, storage and security procedures involved.