Reuters, MADRID
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever was a little surprised on landing back home from Wednesday’s NATO summit in Turkey to find that he had a handgun and ammunition in his luggage.After NATO leaders gathered for Wednesday’s fractious summit in Ankara, their host, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, handed each an unusual parting gift: a vintage revolver, along with live ammunition indicating it was not just for show.Erdogan wanted to showcase Turkey’s defense industry, which has become a key export and foreign policy tool.
A handout photo taken and obtained on Thursday from the Office of the Lithuanian president shows a revolver offered by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda with the president’s name engraved, including live bullets, and displayed during a press presentation in Vilnius.
Images shared by the office of Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda showed what appeared to be a Gumusay .357 Magnum, a rare six-shooter produced by Turkish arms maker MKE in the 1990s.It was set in a wooden display box featuring Turkey’s flag and the NATO logo, as well as a placard inscribed “Gumusay, the first revolver-type handgun produced in our country” in Turkish and English.
