Symbolic gifts for leaders attending international summits are common. The NATO summit in Ankara was no exception, although this time Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's choice of gift raised eyebrows.
According to TürkiyeToday, Erdoğan presented each NATO leader, including Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, with a revolver engraved with the recipient's name and accompanied by a box of live ammunition.
The revelation came from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who spoke to reporters during his return flight from the summit. Starmer said he was unable to bring his gift back to Britain because importing the firearm into the country would have been illegal.
As a result, the revolver intended for him will remain in Ankara and be withdrawn from circulation.
This was despite reports that Erdoğan had provided a personal letter removing Turkish export restrictions on the gift.
Starmer is said to have described the revolver as an unexpected present from the Turkish president.
It remains unclear whether other NATO leaders encountered similar legal or customs-related obstacles in taking their gifts home.
The second gift presented to leaders was considerably more conventional: a luxury edition of the book The Politics of Courage: Erdoğan and the Rise of Türkiye, along with a notebook and a pen engraved with each leader's name.
