ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Western leaders came to Turkey to discuss security in an increasingly perilous world. They each left with a revolver and six rounds.The unconventional gift from the host of this week’s NATO summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was meant to showcase his country’s growing defense industry. But it left officials across the alliance scratching their heads. Some were forced to leave their gifts behind due to gun laws in their countries, while others donated theirs to museums.“It struck me that my gift of maple syrup kind of undermatched,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters, adding that the firearm was now in police possession. “I would like to reassure Canadians, they keep guns away from me.”
The revolvers were engraved with leaders’ names“An unusual gift from President @RTErdogan at the NATO Summit: a Magnum revolver with ammunition, engraved with my name,” Hungary’s new Prime Minister Péter Magyar said on X, posting a photograph of a display box containing the revolver and six cartridges.It was not immediately clear what he did with the gift.Ursula von der Leyen, the European Union commission president, thanked Erdogan for the gift, which will be decommissioned and donated to a military museum, her spokesperson said.
