First Turkish internet celebrity lives a calm life in Izmir

Eda Solmaz – ISTANBUL

Turkey’s first Internet celebrity Mahir Çağrı, known for his song and the internet site with the same name “I kiss you,” is now living a quiet life in the western province of Izmir. 

Çağrı said, “I don’t like to use the internet anymore.”

“I only have a Twitter account. Its owner, Jack Dorsey knows me well. On Instagram, my fans open accounts but officially, I have none,” said the first Turkish influencer, known as “Internet Mahir.”

The site, “www.ikissyou.org” that he opened in 1999 was clicked by some 800,000 people in a couple of hours, which was a Guinness World Record at that time. 

Being in the Forbes’ “World’s Famous 100 People” list in 2000, “Internet Mahir” was selected as the third in the search engine Yahoo’s “Unforgettable 100 Events of Internet” list, according to daily Hürriyet. 

His life was also a subject to the famous comedy movie “Borat.”
 
“In a short time, I found myself in parties in Los Angeles, dedicated to me. At that time, you could not earn money from the internet like now. My only regret is that I could not turn that fame to fortune,” said Mahir Çağlı, a music and gym class teacher in his “normal life.” 

“A lot of Hollywood celebrities invited me to their houses. Producer of the movie Godzilla offered me a bio-movie but I turned it down.”

Talking about his wealth, he said, “I earned some money abroad and it is sufficient for me. I have a house and a car. That’s all. I do not go to expensive places when I go out.”

When asked about his marital status, “I had a lot of affairs. But I am still single,” said the 58-year-old Çağrı.

“Internet keeps you away from social life. I can’t stand it. I have to swim, go around, life goes by. I don’t even open a map on the internet.”

Mahir Çağrı finished his exclusive interview by telling about his dream, “I want to establish an association on my name and open wells in Africa.”