At the NATO summit in Ankara on 7–8 July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presented each of the 31 visiting heads of state and government with a personalised revolver and a box of live ammunition. The firearms, engraved with the recipients’ names, were accompanied by a letter from Erdoğan waiving Turkish export controls. The gifts immediately created complications, as importing functional handguns is heavily restricted or illegal in many allied countries.

According to British officials, Prime Minister Keir Starmer left his revolver in Turkey because bringing a live firearm into the United Kingdom would violate domestic law; the weapon is to be decommissioned before it is returned. Canadian authorities stated that Prime Minister Mark Carney’s pistol was transferred to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for deactivation and may eventually be placed in a museum. German government sources indicated that Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s revolver was handed to the embassy in Ankara to arrange proper import procedures and inventory in the official gift collection. Swedish officials said Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson would accept the gift but only after all permits are secured, storing it in the government’s gift repository. EU officials noted that the high-value ceremonial pistols likely exceed the bloc’s limits on official gifts, making personal retention improbable; European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen intends to donate hers to a military museum after deactivation. Turkish authorities have not publicly commented on the gifts, though the export waiver suggests a deliberate diplomatic gesture.

The episode exposed friction between diplomatic custom and domestic firearms legislation. In several European states, handgun imports are banned or require lengthy authorisation, forcing leaders either to leave the weapons behind or to navigate complex bureaucratic processes. The incident also drew attention to Turkey’s defence industry: according to the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, Turkey was the world’s third-largest exporter of small arms between 2019 and 2024. The summit itself was dominated by debates over defence spending and US President Donald Trump’s criticism of allies, but the revolver gifts became an unexpected logistical focus.

Viewed from European capitals, the gift underscored the cultural and legal divergences within the alliance. The Ankara summit was the last major international event for outgoing British Prime Minister Starmer, who signed a bilateral defence agreement with Turkey on the sidelines. The weapons are now in various stages of processing: some await decommissioning in Turkey, others are held at embassies pending import permits, and a few have already been secured in national gift stores. No further official steps have been announced, but the episode is likely to prompt internal reviews of gift protocols at future summits.