Overview
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan handed each attending NATO leader a personalized, engraved revolver with live ammunition in a wooden display box that also included a cleaning kit and a placard.
- The gifts, which Erdoğan presented on July 7–8 at the Ankara summit, have triggered immediate legal and security checks because many recipient countries restrict private import or possession of handguns.
- Some leaders, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left their revolvers in Türkiye for decommissioning while others placed them in embassy safes, handed them to national security services, or plan to donate them to museums.
- Erdoğan included a written note purporting to waive Türkiye's export controls, but multiple governments say that waiver does not override their domestic firearms statutes or customs procedures.
- The gesture doubles as a showcase for Türkiye's growing small-arms industry, though reporting differs on the model given to leaders—sources variously identify a Sarsilmaz SR 38 and an MKE/Gumusay .357—underlining operational and identification uncertainty.