Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen received a pistol engraved with her own name from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in July. Newly released documents identify the weapon as a Sar9 SC now kept by police.
DR reports that the details emerged from an access to documents request, known in Danish as an aktindsigt, obtained by the radio program P1 Morgen. The documents show a handgun with “Mette Frederiksen” engraved in gold, delivered in what appears to be a wooden case.
The pistol is a Sar9 SC made by the Turkish arms manufacturer Sarsilmaz. According to Kim Mæng Ibsen, owner of the gun shop Ibsen Shooting, it is an ordinary compact 9 mm pistol. Mette Frederiksen and other NATO leaders received the weapons from Erdogan at a summit in Ankara in July.
A document sent to the Danish Ministry of Justice by another authority on August 17 states that the weapon remains under police storage over the summer. Earlier, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service PET said the prime minister’s bodyguards handled the gift when she received it.
In an email to DR Nyheder on July 14, PET stated that the pistol had at all times been in the custody of its Close Protection Unit. PET said it transported the weapon to Denmark and that it remains in the service’s possession.
As reported by Berlingske on July 9, the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed the gift and said Frederiksen has never personally possessed the weapon. Per TV 2 Kosmopol, the office said the gift was accepted in accordance with normal international custom.
Other leaders handled the gifts differently
Lithuania’s presidential office published a photo of the revolver given to President Gitanas Nausėda. The prime ministers of Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom left their gifts at their countries’ embassies in Turkey. AP reported on July 10 that leaders from Germany and the Netherlands also handed theirs over or left them behind.
One of the weapons traveled further. According to Reuters, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever had landed at Brussels Airport before realizing he had a pistol and ammunition in his luggage. The weapon was handed to airport police, who placed it in a safe.
Accounts of the exact model differ. Berlingske described the gifts in July as Sarsilmaz SR 38 revolvers, while DR now identifies Frederiksen’s weapon as a Sar9 SC pistol.
Mathias Findalen, a historian and author of the book “Det Tyrkiet der splitter”, told P1 Morgen that Erdogan deliberately creates such awkward situations. He said the Turkish president likely knew the gift would raise ethical questions for Western leaders.
