The gifts distributed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries at the conclusion of the 36th Ankara summit sparked surprise and great legal confusion in several Western capitals, where the gifts were locally manufactured pistols with the names of the leaders engraved on them, and were accompanied by boxes of live ammunition and official export documents.

European media quoted informed sources as saying that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was the first to reveal the nature of these gifts, explaining that he received a personal pistol bearing his name along with cleaning kits and 500 rounds of live ammunition, but he was forced to leave the weapon inside the British embassy in Ankara because it could not be brought into the United Kingdom due to strict British laws that prohibit the possession and import of individual firearms.

Confusion at airports and embassies

Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Weaver was surprised to find the pistol and ammunition in his luggage when he arrived, and immediately handed it over to Brussels airport police for safekeeping.

Croatian President Zoran Milanović's office said he planned to hand over the gun to a police museum, saying he did not learn of the gift until after he returned.

In a related context, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney took the pistol while leaving the ammunition in Turkey, announcing his intention to deposit it in a museum after it was technically disabled, the same measure taken by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa, where it was decided to refer the two weapons to security procedures and military museums after they were permanently evacuated, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz decided to keep his gift inside the Turkish capital.

On the other hand, other leaders celebrated the gift, with Slovakian President Peter Pellegrini showing off the gun to reporters on his plane, Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Majar posting a photo of the gun on the "X" platform, calling it an unusual gift, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announcing that the weapon had been deposited in the official gift collection at the government headquarters.

Symbolism of the "Silver Moon" pistol

The Turkish gift is a 357-caliber Gümüşay (silver moon) rotary pistol, the first fully domestically designed and manufactured rotary pistol in Turkey during the 1990s and currently produced by the state-owned Turkish Military Industries Company (MKE), and presented in luxurious wooden boxes bearing the Turkish flag and the NATO logo.

According to European sources, Ankara's move carries political and military connotations that go beyond traditional diplomatic norms, and aims to showcase the strength and status of Turkey's national defense industries as an independent and influential military and industrial partner within the alliance, especially since Turkey has ranked third globally among the largest exporters of small arms during the past few years with exports amounting to about $3 billion, making the defense sector a key pillar in the formulation of its external influence.