Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented NATO leaders with commemorative vintage-style revolvers and ammunition as farewell gifts following the alliance’s summit in Ankara, in a move widely seen as highlighting Turkey’s growing defence industry.
Erdogan used the gifts to showcase Turkey’s domestic arms manufacturing sector, which has become an important export industry and a key element of the country’s foreign policy.
Images released by the office of Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda showed what appeared to be the Gumusay .357 Magnum, a rare revolver produced by Turkish arms manufacturer MKE in the 1990s.
The firearm was displayed in a wooden presentation case bearing the Turkish flag, the NATO logo and a plaque identifying it as “Gumusay, the first revolver-type handgun produced in our country” in both Turkish and English.
A spokesperson for Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said all participating leaders received the same model, each engraved with the recipient’s name.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever handed his revolver to airport police in Brussels for secure storage after discovering the firearm and live ammunition in his luggage upon returning home from Wednesday’s summit.
An aide to Polish President Karol Nawrocki told Radio RMF FM that Poland’s gift was awaiting customs clearance at Warsaw Airport before being placed in secure storage.
“Certainly no one will be shooting it,” the aide said.
The offices of the Dutch and Swedish prime ministers said their revolvers had been transferred to their respective embassies in Ankara. The Dutch firearm is expected to be permanently disabled, while the Swedish one is awaiting import documentation.
According to a Downing Street source, the revolver presented to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer came with a cleaning kit and 500 rounds of ammunition.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s revolver has already been placed in storage at Palazzo Chigi, the Italian government’s headquarters, alongside other official state gifts.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen plans to donate her revolver to a military museum.
Although Turkey’s firearms industry now focuses largely on semi-automatic pistols, the Gumusay remains a rare collector’s item.
Turkish manufacturers have expanded their presence in Europe’s civilian firearms market by offering competitively priced pistols and shotguns, challenging long-established Italian and Belgian brands.
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 approximately three billion dollars during the period, behind only the United States and Italy.
