NATO leaders who gathered this week in Ankara for the alliance’s annual summit have revealed an unusually awkward surprise from their Turkish host: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gifted each of them an old-model pistol, along with live ammunition.
The gift was intended to showcase Turkey’s growing defense industry, which has become an important part of the country’s exports and foreign policy. But for several leaders, it quickly became a legal and logistical problem, since many countries do not allow the import of functioning firearms by government officials returning from diplomatic trips.
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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gifted each NATO leader an old-model pistol, along with live ammunition
(Photo: Lithuanian President's Office/Handout via REUTERS, Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Photos shared by the office of Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda showed a Gumusay .357 Magnum, a rare six-shot revolver produced by Turkish arms manufacturer MKE in the 1990s.
The pistol was placed in a wooden display case bearing the Turkish flag and the NATO emblem. A plaque in Turkish and English described the Gumusay as “the first revolver produced in our country.”
Other leaders also reported receiving the gift. A spokesperson for Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said all leaders were given the same model, with each pistol engraved with the recipient’s name.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever was surprised after landing in Brussels to discover a pistol and ammunition in his luggage. He handed the gift to airport police so it could be secured in a safe.
(Photo: Lithuanian President's Office/Handout via REUTERS)
An aide to Polish President Karol Nawrocki told RMF FM radio that the pistol given to him by Turkey was waiting to be cleared by customs at Warsaw airport. It would be kept in an appropriate place “so that, first, it is safe, and second, it is honored as a gift,” the aide said.
“One thing is certain: no one will fire it,” he added.
The offices of the Dutch and Swedish prime ministers said the pistols they received were taken to their embassies in Ankara. The Dutch pistol is expected to be deactivated, while the Swedish one is awaiting import documents.
A source in the office of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the pistol given to him came with a cleaning kit and 500 bullets. British reports said Erdogan had exempted the gift from export restrictions, but the pistol was left in Turkey for now because British law prohibits importing live small arms.
The gift Erdogan gave NATO leaders at the Turkey summit, as presented to Lithuania’s president: a pistol and ammunition
(Photo: Office of the Prime Minister of Belgium/Handout via REUTERS)
It will be flown to the United Kingdom only after it is fully deactivated, so that it can no longer be used for shooting.
The pistol given to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has already been stored at Palazzo Chigi, the official seat of the Italian government, alongside other official gifts received by Italian leaders from foreign countries.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen intends to donate her pistol to a military museum, while in Greece, the prime minister is expected to hand the gift over to the Athens War Museum.
Turkey’s modern handgun industry focuses mainly on semi-automatic weapons, making the Gumusay a somewhat unusual collector’s item.
Turkish arms manufacturers have made inroads into Europe’s civilian weapons market with cheaper pistols and shotguns, challenging long-established Italian and Belgian brands long associated with more expensive firearms used for sport and by security forces.
According to the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, Turkey was the world’s third-largest exporter of small arms between 2019 and 2024, with total exports of about $3 billion during that period. Only the United States and Italy ranked ahead of it.
For Erdogan, the gift was another opportunity to highlight Turkey’s defense industry on a global stage. But for some NATO leaders, the engraved pistol came with an unexpected question: how to get home legally with a functioning firearm and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.