Photographs have emerged of an unusual gift handed out by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to every NATO leader attending this week’s summit, including Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Rather than the customary diplomatic memento, each leader received a revolver engraved with their name, complete with a box of live ammunition and a dedicated cleaning kit, according to Turkish media reports.

European officials cited by the political news outlet Politico said the weapons were presented on Wednesday to, among others, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa, the official who chairs meetings of EU heads of state and government.

A European Council official said Costa’s security detail took charge of his revolver immediately in order to carry out the necessary checks. “We will follow Belgian procedures for its transport, and it will then be stored in accordance with the security requirements imposed by the General Secretariat of the Council,” the official said, referring to the administrative body that supports the Council’s work.

A spokesperson for von der Leyen said the Commission president had thanked Erdoğan for the gesture, adding that her revolver “will be transported and stored securely” and that, once deactivated, she intends to donate it to a military museum.

A book as well as a revolver

Alongside the engraved revolvers, Erdoğan gave leaders attending the 36th NATO Summit of Heads of State and Government a second gift: a biographical work titled The Politics of Courage: Erdoğan and the Rise of Turkey, accompanied by a personal letter signed by the Turkish president.

The gift was presented on Wednesday evening, after Erdoğan and his wife, Emine Erdoğan, hosted a dinner at the Presidential Palace in Ankara for the visiting leaders and their spouses. The book, produced by the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Foundation, a charitable body linked to the Turkish president, was handed out as a personal token following the meal.

In the accompanying letter, Erdoğan wrote that history amounts to more than a sequence of lived moments, describing it instead as the accumulation of decisions, effort and vision over time. He added that the book, which he said reaches beyond a single personal story, reflects the aspirations he has shared with the Turkish people, the initiatives undertaken during his tenure, and the legacy handed on to future generations.

According to the foundation’s statement, the book aims to move beyond a conventional political biography, examining Turkey’s recent history through the lens of the nation, its leadership and a shared collective future. It is intended as a reference work explaining the country’s recent transformation to an international readership, set within its historical and social context.

Dr Hümeyra Ş. Oktay served as project director, with Professor Mehmet Akif Kireçci as editor. The book itself was written by Professors Kireçci, Gulnur Aybet and Birol Akgun, who combined academic research with historical narrative to assess Turkey’s transformation under Erdoğan.

Leaders unlikely to keep the weapons

Symbolic as the gifts may be, the revolvers are likely to collide with strict European Union rules governing the value of gifts officials are permitted to accept, one European official noted. As a result, it is considered improbable that any of the recipients will be allowed to keep their revolver as a personal item.

Other leaders have already signalled how they intend to handle the matter. Outgoing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten have both said publicly that they will leave their weapons in Turkey for now, so that they can be deactivated before being shipped on to their home countries.

Photos: Reuters