Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented NATO leaders and senior European Union officials with engraved vintage revolvers, live ammunition and cleaning kits as farewell gifts following the alliance’s summit in Ankara, triggering a series of security, customs and storage arrangements as recipient governments worked to transport the firearms in accordance with their domestic regulations.
The gifts were intended to showcase Turkey’s expanding defence manufacturing sector and were distributed to heads of government and top EU representatives attending the summit.
Photographs released by the office of Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda identified the firearm as a Gumusay .357 Magnum, a rare revolver produced during the 1990s by Turkey’s state-owned arms manufacturer MKE.
Each revolver was housed in a wooden presentation case featuring the Turkish flag, the NATO emblem and a commemorative plaque identifying it as the first revolver-type handgun manufactured in Turkey.
The office of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said every leader received the same model, with each firearm individually engraved with the recipient's name.
The inclusion of live ammunition alongside the revolvers created immediate legal and logistical complications for several delegations, as the gifts were functional firearms rather than purely ceremonial items.
After returning from the summit, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever handed his revolver to airport police in Brussels for secure storage.
In Poland, an aide to President Karol Nawrocki said the firearm was being held at Warsaw Airport pending customs clearance before being transferred to secure storage.
The aide said the revolver would be preserved safely as a state gift and would not be used.
The governments of the Netherlands and Sweden said their firearms had been transferred to their embassies in Ankara. Dutch authorities intend to have the revolver permanently decommissioned before shipping it to the Netherlands, while Sweden said it is completing the required import formalities.
A source at Downing Street said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer received a revolver accompanied by a cleaning kit and 500 rounds of ammunition.
British officials had earlier indicated that the firearm would remain in Turkey until it had been decommissioned before being transported to the United Kingdom.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office said her revolver had already been placed in secure storage at Palazzo Chigi alongside other official gifts received by the Italian government.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa were also among those who received the engraved firearms from Erdogan.
EU officials said Costa’s security team had taken custody of the revolver for inspection before it is transported to Belgium and stored under the Council’s security regulations.
A spokesperson for von der Leyen said she had thanked Erdogan for the gift and that the firearm would be transported securely, decommissioned and eventually donated to a military museum.
Officials noted that, under strict rules governing gifts accepted by public office holders, the high-value ceremonial firearms are unlikely to remain the personal property of the recipients.
Turkey has increasingly promoted its defence industry as a tool of diplomacy and export growth.
While Turkish firearms manufacturers now primarily produce semi-automatic pistols, the Gumusay revolver is considered a rare collector’s item.
The country’s arms makers have also expanded their footprint in Europe’s civilian firearms market by offering competitively priced pistols and shotguns.
According to the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, Turkey was the world's third-largest exporter of small arms between 2019 and 2024, with exports valued at about USD 3 billion during that period, trailing only the United States and Italy.
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