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Kazakhstan-born content creator Omar Aliyev, who has built an audience of 70 million followers across platforms, including 51 million on TikTok alone, is preparing to settle in Istanbul while studying advertising at Bahcesehir University with his sister.
Aliyev cites self-motivation alongside global creator MrBeast as inspirations, and says the move will give him the professional backbone to work with brands and communicate across markets. In a question-and-answer session shared with our newsroom before the interview, the conversation ranged from his first videos to future plans, providing a clear roadmap of his next steps.
Aliyev began posting in 2021, when TikTok was surging in popularity and he was browsing a local flea market—an open-air secondhand market—at age 14. His first video drew 700 views, and the second climbed to 20,000, which pushed him to produce daily. Soon after, his accounts were repeatedly closed because he was under 18.
Across nine different accounts—some reaching 150,000, 300,000, 600,000, 200,000, 150,000, 400,000 and 380,000 followers—he kept starting over; the profile he uses today is his 10th.
He recalls that his first breakout phase came from a “roulette” format—short, fast-paced clips built around a random-selector conceit—where not one but roughly 25 to 30 videos exploded, some reaching 30 to 40 million views.
Because accounts were repeatedly shut, he says those early successes did not immediately change his life; what they did do was strengthen his resolve to keep creating. When his ninth account disappeared, he nearly stopped, until family urged him to “try one last time.”
Having completed a health/medical college in Kazakhstan, Aliyev decided that higher education should support rather than delay his ambitions to act. He chose Türkiye and found a fit at Bahcesehir University, which he says opened the right door for his goals.
Planning to live in Istanbul, he believes formal studies will shore up his creative work and expand his professional range.
What struck him on arrival was the hospitality and the sheer mix of people, cultures and languages that meet in Istanbul.
He was especially taken with the city’s three bridges that physically link Asia and Europe across the Bosphorus—an image that, for him, sums up the city’s energy—and he has already formed friendships with local actors and influencers.
Aliyev and his sister will study Advertising, a degree he expects will help him craft brand collaborations, build creative formats and manage global communications with more structure. He frames education as a way to support the work rather than a detour from it.
Although he is not Turkish, Aliyev has known Turkish since childhood, after years of watching Turkish TV from the age of five, and he sometimes films with Turkish songs.
He engages by replying to comments, chatting with people he meets in the street, and going live, which helps him build a more personal connection with followers in Türkiye.
Together with his team and producer, he is developing concepts to shoot in Türkiye, including pieces on Istanbul neighborhoods, campus life, multilingual ideas and collaborations with local artists. He signals that these projects will roll out soon.
Looking ahead, Aliyev wants to establish himself as an actor in Türkiye while keeping his social media reach intact, with the focus shifting more firmly to performance.
He intends to continue his career in Türkiye after graduation while staying open to international projects, noting that Istanbul already serves as a cultural and events hub for the region.
Omar Aliyev moves to Türkiye to pursue acting, Sept. 23, 2025. (Video via Instagram/@turkiyetodaycom)
Aliyev says he does not like to wait when it comes to work and respects those who keep their word.
He describes himself as fast-moving—sometimes impatient—but determined to channel that energy into output, adding that keeping promises with his team is a principle he takes seriously.
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