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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will donate a pistol given by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to a military museum in the Belgian capital once it is brought to Brussels.
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European Commission Deputy Chief Spokesperson Olof Gill said that von der Leyen expressed her “thanks” to the Turkish leader for the present given at the end of the annual NATO summit in Ankara on Wednesday.
“The firearm will be securely transported and stored, and once decommissioned, it is the intention of the president to donate the firearm to a military museum,” he said in response to a question asked by Euronews.
The weapon will have to be decommissioned to ensure it cannot fire live rounds.
A European Council official said European Council President António Costa’s pistol would be imported in accordance with Belgian law.
The firearm would then be “decommissioned and stored” in line with the security requirements of the General Secretariat of the Council.
Outgoing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday that Erdoğan had given each leader present a pistol personalised with their name alongside a box of ammunition and a note waiving Turkish export controls.
Starmer said he left his weapon in Turkey to be decommissioned because it would be illegal to import a live firearm into the UK. It is also illegal to import a live firearm into Belgium without the correct authorisation.
Von der Leyen and Costa shared a working dinner with Erdoğan at the Presidential Complex on Wednesday where they were said to have discussed bilateral EU-Turkey relations alongside and topics spanning defence, migration, mobility, trade and industrial policy.
Before the meeting, questions were being asked as to what would be discussed and whether a rapprochement between von der Leyen and Erdoğan could be achieved in spite of previous missteps.
