“Whaaat?” I sit staring wide-eyed at the headline of the newsletter. “Whaaat? How… ? What possesses that man?”
Erdogan had a gift for all members of NATO
That was probably meant very nicely by that man, but in my eyes it was a somewhat peculiar gift – to put it mildly. “Koos! You really have to see this!” Koos P. is here to rest a bit and help out, and is just passing by the kitchen. “Good morning, and what is it?” he asks with a smile.
I show him the headline. “With their name engraved on it!” Koos pulls a face: “Well, that’s not good,” but at first he misunderstands. He thinks the name is on a bullet, and that means something completely different. “No no no, on the barrel,” I correct, and I assume, dear readers, that you already know what this is about.
All NATO members received a pistol as a gift
“A revolver,” my son Broes rightly points out to me, who knows everything about weapons because of his age, sex, and gaming experience. Oh, beg pardon. To me, all firearms look the same. We are not used to weapons at all – I also notice this from the reactions of some friends I texted about it. “That man is out of his mind – what an idiotic, infantile, masculine gift!”
You can also tell by the reactions of the NATO members themselves. Dutch prime-minister Jetten left it behind, even though an export and import permit was included; Keir Starmer left his behind too, as he had encountered serious difficulties with the import, and he has enough of those already. Difficulties, I mean.
Belgian De Wever hadn’t even seen what the gift entailed until he stood at customs. An employee of the Polish president said that the president had his revolver at Warsaw airport awaiting clearance and it was to be kept in a suitable place “so that it is safe first of all and treated with respect as a gift.”
Furthermore, everyone has an opinion and a point of view on it
Unique, provocative, such craftsmanship, uncomfortable because dangerous (well, if it isn’t loaded and is in a locked cabinet, it’s not that bad, you might say) – in any case, it certainly stirs up emotions. In Portugal, you need a permit to buy and keep a weapon, usually a hunting rifle, and you must keep it in a locked cabinet, with the ammunition separate. And be a member of a hunting association.
Our Prime Minister Luís Montenegro handed it over to the PSP – the Portuguese public security police. This falls not only under the arms law but also under the What-can-I-accept-as-a-gift-so-it-doesn’t-look-like-bribery law. (1)
Friend Paulie texts back a different point of view. He lived and worked in Bosnia in the nineties and is used to somewhat different customs. “In Sarajevo, I occasionally came into contact with the family rifle of colleague Pantovic, a completely peaceful and calm person, yet very fond of this weapon that had been passed down to the next generation for generations and was used to shoot into the air at New Year and at weddings – like fireworks. I got the impression that owning a rifle or pistol was a traditional manifestation of resilience and of ‘don’t-get-too-close-to-me’ and of a prevailing idea of masculinity there. It wouldn’t surprise me if the same is the case in Turkey, the ruler of Bosnia and Serbia for centuries. But then again, what do I really know as a simple native of Dordrecht?”
Well… what do I really know about such matters as a simple portholandesa?
Let’s just assume then that it was well-intentioned. After all, NATO is primarily a defense alliance, not a cozy drinking club. And apparently, weapons are simply part of life …
(1) In Portugal, members of the government must adhere to a number of rules when accepting gifts. For example, the government’s code of conduct sets a maximum reference value of 150 euros for gifts. “Members of the government must refrain from accepting offers (…) of material goods, consumer goods or durable goods, or services, which could jeopardize the impartiality and integrity of the exercise of their functions,” reads the code of conduct published in the Official Gazette.
So that means that the Portuguese are not allowed to accept luxury aircraft from Qatar. Just saying. Nor may the hide 75.800 euros in their book cases.
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(Disclaimer: I’m a bit tired of the keyword stuff and Google’s dictatorship. So here they are, and I’m also hoping for the cleverness of AI in this matter that it will still be found and read, but that I don’t have to force myself to use the right terms in the title and headings. #NATO #revolver #KeirStarmer )
We moved here in 2000 from Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to the Termas-da-Azenha, Portugal. We started to rebuild one of portugals cultural heirlooms: Termas-da-Azenha, an old spa.You’ll find mosaics and paintings everywhere. Since Covid we rent the houses for a longer period of time, not as holiday houses anymore.
Each week a little blog about what is happening around us. An easy read. A few minutes in another world. A little about what it going on in Portugal. If you plan your holiday to Portugal, it might be a nice preparation.
In the weekend we publish it on Bluesky, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.