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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan surprised NATO leaders with an unusual diplomatic gift after the alliance’s summit in Ankara, presenting each visiting leader with an engraved vintage Turkish revolver complete with live ammunition.
The gift was intended to highlight Turkey’s growing defense industry, which has become an increasingly important export sector and foreign policy tool. Photos released by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda’s office showed what appeared to be the Gumusay .357 Magnum, a rare revolver manufactured by Turkish state-owned arms producer MKE during the 1990s. The firearm was displayed in a wooden presentation box featuring the Turkish flag, the NATO logo, and a plaque identifying it as Turkey’s first domestically produced revolver.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s office confirmed that every NATO leader received the same model, with each revolver engraved with the recipient’s name.
The gifts prompted varying responses from world leaders. Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever handed his revolver and ammunition to Brussels Airport police for secure storage upon returning home. Polish President Karol Nawrocki’s firearm remained at Warsaw Airport awaiting customs clearance, with aides emphasizing it would be safely preserved as a ceremonial gift rather than used.
The Dutch and Swedish governments said their revolvers had been transferred to their embassies in Ankara, with the Dutch version scheduled to be deactivated while Swedish officials completed import procedures. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s package reportedly also included a cleaning kit and 500 rounds of ammunition.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni placed her revolver among official state gifts at Palazzo Chigi, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen plans to donate hers to a military museum. Greece’s leader intends to send his firearm to the War Museum in Athens. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney joked that his gift of maple syrup seemed modest by comparison, adding that the deactivated revolver may eventually be displayed in Canada’s national war museum.
Turkey has emerged as a major player in the global firearms industry, particularly in affordable pistols and shotguns. According to the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, the country ranked as the world’s third-largest exporter of small arms between 2019 and 2024, generating roughly $3 billion in exports during that period, behind only the United States and Italy.
