Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan couldn't attend a meeting of the Justice and Development Party in the Turkish city of Izmir over the weekend, so he sent a 10-foot digital hologram of himself to deliver his speech.
In the video below, the lights go out over the crowd as a blue light unfurls upward and solidifies into bigger — if hazier — prime minister.
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The crowd cheered during the pre-recorded speech, which expressed the need for people to remain strong in their beliefs with the approach of the March municipal elections. The upcoming elections will likely display the public's opinion of his party's leadership. Erdoğan found himself under exceptionally heavy political fire following a massive corruption investigation in December, which forced the resignations of three of his cabinet members.
Erdoğan is not the first politician to digitize himself, according to The Atlantic. Narendra Modi, the chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat and a candidate for prime minister this year, peppered a throng of supporters with 26 holograms of himself while was campaigning for reelection in 2012.
Perhaps more memorable for U.S. citizens, CNN experimented with holograms during some of their election coverage in 2008, but they were quickly laughed offstage.
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