Former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who recently established a new political party, opened an account on TikTok, a video-sharing social networking service that has millions of followers in Turkey, in an apparent move to feel the pulse of the country’s youth.
In his first post on Tuesday, Davutoğlu posted a short video, saying, “I asked where the young people are. They told me they’re on TikTok. So I came here, too. I’m where the younger generation is.”
Under the video, he wrote, “Hello, I’m on TikTok from now on.”
TikTok has around 38 million followers in Turkey.
In December Davutoğlu, who served as prime minister between 2014 and 2016 and was chairman of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), formally presented his Future Party (GP) at a ceremony in Ankara.
Davutoğlu insisted his party would stand for minority rights, the rule of law, freedom of the press and an independent judiciary — in a swipe at the deterioration of civil rights during Erdogan’s 16-year rule.
He described the party’s ideological stance as “liberalism with reverence for traditional values.”