by WorldTribune Staff, July 9, 2026 Non-AI Real World News
NATO leaders left this week’s summit in Ankara with a thorough tongue-lashing courtesy of U.S. President Donald Trump … and a pistol and six rounds courtesy of Turkish President and summit host Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
An engraved revolver gifted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda. / Lithuanian President’s Office
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he and others had received a revolver engraved with their names.
The rare Gumusay .357 magnum revolvers were gifted in a red box lined in black with six live rounds and a note exempting the weapons from export controls.
The Lithuanian president’s office shared photos of the gun in a box with the Turkish flag, the NATO logo and a placard describing it as the first revolver made in Turkey.
Whether U.S. President Donald Trump received one and what he did with it if so remains unclear.
“An unusual gift from president Erdogan at the NATO summit: a Magnum revolver with ammunition, engraved with my name,” Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar said on X.
A Belgian officials said Prime Minister Bart De Wever had only “learned of the exact nature of the gift” after landing in Belgium.
“The prime minister was surprised and immediately handed it over to airport police so it could be placed in a secure safe and the matter was handled in accordance with relevant procedures,” the official said on Thursday.
De Wever’s security team also handled the revolvers given to the European Union chiefs based in Brussels, Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa.
Von der Leyen “expressed her thanks” to Erdogan for the gift, her spokesperson said, adding that it would be decommissioned and donated to a military museum.
Canadian officials said Prime Minister Mark Carney took his revolver with him but left the ammunition in Turkey.
Polish President Karol Nawrockis aid the gift brought back memories of a previous incident. In December 2022, Poland’s police chief brought back an anti-tank grenade launcher from Ukraine that he had received as a gift. The device exploded in his office, slightly injuring him and causing extensive damage to the police headquarters in Warsaw.
This time, “it is certain that no one is going to fire it”, an aide to Nawrocki told a local radio station.
