Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney did not expect to receive a gun on his way to the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.
• Also read: One revolver, six bullets: the Turkish president’s strange gift to NATO leaders
At the end of this annual meeting, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented each leader with a Magnum 357 type revolver.
The unusual gift raised eyebrows and surprised other leaders of NATO member countries.
“It’s not what I expected,” Mark Carney replied when a journalist asked him what he thought of the gift when he opened it.
“I figured my maple syrup gift was a little out of step compared to, whatever it was, a .357 or whatever,” he added with a laugh.
This press photo taken on July 9, 2026 and obtained from the Lithuanian President’s office shows a revolver given by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda.
AFP
The Prime Minister assures that he never saw the revolver in question, which was instead received by his team.
“I’ve never seen him. I would like to reassure Canadians that they keep the guns away from me,” he also joked.
Mark Carney, however, clarified that the revolver was decommissioned “because it is not a legal weapon in Canada” and that he “certainly does not have the necessary licenses to possess one.”
The Prime Minister and his team are studying some options for storing the weapon, including returning it to the Canadian War Museum or a Canadian Armed Forces military museum.
• Also watch this video podcast taken from Karima Brikh’s show, broadcast on QUB platforms and simultaneously on 99.5 FM Montréal:
