Turkey’s Diplomatic Duty: Erdogan’s Gun Gift Sparks Tradition Talk at NATO Summit

At the Ankara NATO summit, Erdogan gave each leader a personalized, Turkish-made Gümüşay .357 Magnum revolver (with six live rounds) and accompanying gifts, sparking security concerns and social-media buzz. The gesture is framed as a long-running diplomatic custom of gifting firearms to allies, a practice with historical precedents from Colt pistols to presidents. Reactions ranged from jokes about the gift’s prestige to plans to store or decommission the weapons, with Ursula von der Leyen saying she would donate her gift to a military museum and other leaders noting storage procedures.