Erdoğan’s farewell pistols for EU chiefs raise eyebrows after NATO summit PHOTO

Top European leaders attending the NATO summit held in Ankara on July 7–8 were presented with engraved pistols and live ammunition as farewell gifts.

The elaborate firearms — along with bullets and a cleaning kit — were handed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa on July 8 by the summit host, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, two EU officials confirmed to POLITICO.

A European Council official said Costa’s security team took possession of the weapon for inspection. “We will follow the Belgian procedures to bring it to Belgium and then we will store it in line with the security requirements imposed by the General Secretariat of the Council,” the official said.

Von der Leyen has not yet disclosed publicly what she intends to do with the gift.

“The president expressed her thanks to President Erdoğan for this gesture. The firearm will be securely transported and stored. Once decommissioned, it is the intention of the president to donate the firearm to a military museum,” a spokesperson for von der Leyen noted.

One official said the premium ceremonial pistols are unlikely to remain in the personal possession of the recipients, as their value appears to exceed strict rules governing gifts accepted by public officials.

It later emerged that Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever had also received the unexpected gift and inadvertently brought it back to Belgium. The package was not opened until the delegation arrived in the country, where officials discovered a pistol and ammunition inside. The weapon was immediately handed over to airport police.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also handed over the gifted pistol to Canadian police, according to CTV. The ammunition, however, was left in Türkiye. A source told the broadcaster that the firearm would be rendered inoperable before potentially being transferred to a Canadian museum for storage. Carney will not use it.

It was later revealed that Erdoğan also presented firearms to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten.

Both leaders told media outlets that they would leave their pistols in Türkiye to be decommissioned before arranging for them to be transported home.

By Jeyhun Aghazada