Carney gives update on gun gift he got from Erdogan

Prime Minister Carney says the government will ‘find the best home’ for the now-decommissioned handgun gifted to him by Türkiye’s Erdogan at the NATO summit.

Prime Minister Mark Carney says a personalized, engraved pistol he was gifted by Türkiye’s president has been decommissioned.

“I would like to reassure Canadians they keep guns away from me,” he said during a news conference in Saudi Arabia on Thursday.

“It struck me that my gift of maple syrup kind of undermatched the, whatever it was, .357-calibre,” he added with a laugh.

Carney said he was not aware of the gift until he had a conversation with outgoing British Prime Minister Kier Starmer, who also revealed publicly that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave pistols as gifts to NATO leaders – each one engraved with the leader’s name.

Carney’s gun has been turned over to the RCMP, he said. While he did not reveal its make, he said the model is not legal in Canada and added that he “certainly” does not have a firearm licence.

Carney provided the update in response to a question on what went through his mind when he opened the gift. He said he never saw it himself but added he thought it was “interesting and it relates to NATO.”

He suggested the firearm could be donated to a domestic military museum.

Global Affairs Canada told CTV News on Wednesday that the accompanying box of ammunition remained in Türkiye.

Carney is on a multi-day, multi-national trip. Earlier this week, he attended a NATO summit in Türkiye to hold a series of meetings with allies and flaunt Canada’s newly-announced submarine deal with German manufacturer TKMS.

Canada is planning to buy up to 12 submarines, and the estimated purchase cost has been pegged at as much as $24 billion before maintenance and operations costs. Carney met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Norwegian Prime Minister Gahr Store.

Two models of the 212CD sub accompanied the trio as media packed into the meeting room.

He left Ankara, Türkiye for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Wednesday evening. He’s expected to depart for Ottawa on Friday morning, local time.