Erdogan gifts Trump gold-plated revolver during Nato summit
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented Donald Trump with a personalised, gold-plated revolver and ammunition during Trump’s visit to Ankara for last week’s Nato summit, multiple sources with knowledge of the matter told Middle East Eye.
Erdogan gave similar personalised revolvers to all attending Nato leaders, but Trump’s was the only one reported to include gold plating.
Sources familiar with the gift said the gun is identical to the Gumusay .357 Magnum revolver and was presented in a wooden box bearing the Turkish flag and Nato logo.
A placard inside the box described the weapon as "the first revolver-type handgun produced in our country".
The only difference, the sources said, was that the grip had been gold-plated. The White House didn't respond to MEE's questions.
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The exchange comes amid increasingly close relations between Erdogan and Trump.
One US official recently described the relationship between the two leaders as having a "special chemistry", a dynamic that has helped deepen ties between Washington and Ankara.
In the coming months, the Trump administration is expected to lift sanctions imposed on Turkey under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) over Ankara's 2019 purchase of Russia's S-400 missile defence system.
In a move seen as an effort to permanently resolve the dispute over Turkey's ownership of the S-400, Trump is also expected to advance a deal to transfer or sell the system to a Gulf state, with the United Arab Emirates emerging as a potential buyer.
The move coincides with warming US-Turkey relations and Ankara's push to expand defence exports as a key part of its foreign policy.
According to Reuters, citing data from the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, Turkey was the world’s third-largest exporter of small arms between 2019 and 2024, behind the US and Italy, with exports totalling around $3bn over that period.
Under US federal rules, foreign gifts exceeding $525 become government property unless the recipient reimburses the government for the assessed value.
As a result, Trump may be required either to surrender the revolver to the US government or pay its assessed value if he wishes to keep it.
The gift has attracted attention because of Trump's well-known preference for gold-coloured decor. During his second term, Trump oversaw renovations to the Oval Office that included gold-coloured ornaments and decorative features.
Erdogan is not the first foreign leader to give Trump a gold-plated gun. In 2019, then-Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis presented him with a limited-edition gold-plated CZ 75 pistol engraved with Trump's birth year.
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