ISTANBUL -- Mahir Cagri, the Turk who became an accidental Internet cult hero, said on returning home from a world tour on Thursday that he would not shirk the responsibilities of new-found fame.
"If you believe in a power, a ruler of the universe, then you cannot run away from certain duties, even if you want to. My responsibilities are very heavy," Cagri told a news conference at Istanbul airport.
Cagri, a 37-year-old journalist and amateur photographer from Izmir, was dubbed the Internet's Forrest Gump late last year when his naive Web page clocked millions of visitors.
Cagri's homepage greeting -- "I Kiss You!!!!" -- rapidly became a de rigeur salutation for Net surfers, and Mahir fan clubs sprouted like mushrooms.
His page listed ping-pong, sex, and playing the accordion among his interests and featured photos of him sunbathing in a skimpy red bathing suit on a Bulgarian beach. He "invitated" girls to come and visit him.
But on Thursday he said he would use his fame to set up a foundation to help ease famine in Africa and build a school for child victims of war.
"At the moment, I am a citizen of the world. My responsibilities are many," he said, adding that he planned to write an autobiography and that a Hollywood film deal could be around the cormer.
And he asked his Internet critics, mostly Turks, "to love and share."
