Nato leaders surprised by Turkish president’s gift of guns after summit | Nato

What does a world leader do with a gun and six bullets? This was the predicament facing NATO leaders after the Turkish president offered each of them a gun after the Ankara summit.

Keir Starmer was the first to mention the unusual gift that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presented to his guests. On his return from Ankara, where NATO leaders met for two days, the British prime minister said that he and others were given a gun with their names on it.

Next to the gun, which was in a red box with black lining, were six live bullets and a note stating that the guns were exempt from export controls.

Several officials from different alliance member countries said it was a surprising gift, to say the least, and led to some “crazy” scenes between the various delegations’ security teams.

“An unusual gift from President Erdoğan at the NATO summit: a Magnum pistol with ammunition with my name written on it,” Hungarian prime minister Péter Magyar said in a statement to X.

Belgian prime minister Bart De Wever “only learned of the exact nature of the gift after landing in Belgium”. “The prime minister was surprised and immediately handed it over to the airport police to be placed in a secure safe, and the matter was handled in accordance with relevant procedures,” an official said on Thursday.

De Wever’s security team also handled handguns issued to Brussels-based EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa, along with all the security and protocol headaches that come with such an endeavor.

Her spokesperson stated that Von der Leyen “thanked” Erdoğan for the gift and said that the gift would be retired and donated to the military museum.

The gun presented to Polish president Karol Nawrocki also arrived safely, but the necessary precautions and a previous incident were on everyone’s mind.

In December 2022, the Polish police chief brought back an anti-tank grenade launcher he received as a gift from Ukraine. The device exploded in his office, causing minor injuries and major damage to the police headquarters in Warsaw.

This time, “it is certain that no one will shoot,” an aide to Nawrocki told a local radio station.

A large number of guns, including those of Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, remain in the Turkish capital for now.

Depending on applicable laws, carrying firearms is often far from easy, especially when they are fully functional.

Canadian officials said that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney took his gun with him but left the ammunition in Türkiye. They didn’t explain why.

The weapon given to Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson “will need to be transferred to Sweden in accordance with all applicable procedures,” his team said in a statement.

Beyond the logistical challenge, the gift also surprised many delegations attending the summit, which focused on relations with Ukraine, Iran and US President Donald Trump.

The question has been asked again and again: why such a gift? Although it is very common for heads of state to give various gifts at meetings or summits, such exchanges rarely require such precautions.

The Turkish Presidency did not immediately respond.