Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan handed out unusual parting gifts to NATO leaders after a summit in Ankara: vintage revolvers along with live ammunition.
Gifts from Turkey
The revolvers, which appeared to be the Gumusay .357 Magnum, were produced by Turkish arms maker MKE in the 1990s. Each leader received a revolver engraved with their own name, set in a wooden display box featuring Turkey’s flag and the NATO logo.
The gifts were meant to showcase Turkey’s defense industry, which has become a key export and foreign policy tool. Turkish gunmakers have been making inroads into Europe’s civilian firearms market with inexpensive pistols and shotguns.
According to the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, Turkey was the world’s third-largest exporter of small arms between 2019 and 2024, with exports totaling about $3 billion over the period.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.