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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gifted Prime Minister Mark Carney a pistol with his name engraved on it, along with ammunition.
Erdoğan offered the engraved pistols as a gift to Carney and other leaders at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. According to a BBC News report, the firearm is a revolver and was gifted to each of the leaders along with live ammunition.
The two-day meeting of the alliance notably featured discussions around military rearmament of NATO countries. By the end of the fiscal year on March 31, all member countries had met the alliance’s defence spending benchmark of two per cent of gross domestic product.
According to Global Affairs Canada, a pistol was gifted to every NATO leader, and Canada’s is “being transferred to the possession of the RCMP for decommissioning.” That means it will no longer be able to fire live ammunition.
Global Affairs also said that “all official gifts are handled in accordance with applicable Canadian laws, security requirements, and government policies.”
According to a senior official, Ottawa will now seek an appropriate place for the gift, suggesting it could land at a Canadian museum.
It has not yet released a picture of the firearm.
