Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest

Turkey
Member station	TRT
National selection events	Internal selection (2003, 2006-) Eurovizyon Şarkı Seçmeleri (1975-2000, 2004, 2005)
Appearances
Appearances	33
First appearance	1975
Best result	1st: 2003
Worst result	Last: 1975, 1983, 1987,
External links
TRT's Eurovision page
Turkey's page at Eurovision.tv

Turkey participated in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 1975, represented by Semiha Yankı performing "Seninle Bir Dakika", but did not achieve any considerable success until the late 1990s. They withdrew from the 1979 contest in Jerusalem, a major disappointment for the selected performers Maria Rita Epik & 21 Peron, who would have performed the song "Seviyorum".

Since the introduction of the free language rule as well as televoting (in 1999 and 1997, respectively), Turkish entries have enjoyed much more success than in previous years. In 1997, Turkey finished 3rd with the song "Dinle" by Şebnem Paker. In 2003, Turkey won for the first time with "Everyway That I Can" by Sertab Erener, narrowly beating Belgium by two points. In 2004, the home entry in Istanbul, "For Real" by Athena, placed 4th. In 2007, "Shake It Up Şekerim" by Kenan Dogulu finished 4th as well. In 2008, the band Mor ve Ötesi ended 7th in the final. In 2009, Hadise achieved another impressive result for Turkey, obtaining a 4th position. In 2010, the band maNga obtain the second best placing ever for their homeland, winning the second semifinal and placing 2nd in the final.

However, Turkey's lucky streak ran out as the country failed to qualify for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 final the first time since the introduction of the semifinals in 2004.

Contestants

Kenan Doğulu performing "Shake It Up Şekerim" at Helsinki (2007)

Mor ve Ötesi performing "Deli" at Belgrade (2008)

maNga performing "We Could Be The Same" at Oslo (2010)

Year	Artist	Title	Final	Points	Semi	Points
1975	Semiha Yankı	"Seninle Bir Dakika"	19	3
1978	Nilüfer and Nazar	"Sevince"	18	2
1980	Ajda Pekkan	"Petrol"	15	23
1981	Modern Folk Trio and Ayşegül	"Dönme Dolap"	18	9
1982	Neco	"Hani?"	15	20
1983	Çetin Alp and The Short Waves	"Opera"	19	0
1984	Beş Yıl Önce, On Yıl Sonra	"Halay"	12	37
1985	MFÖ	"Diday diday day"	14	36
1986	Klips ve Onlar	"Halley"	9	53
1987	Seyyal Taner and Lokomotif	"Şarkım Sevgi Üstüne"	22	0
1988	MFÖ	"Sufi"	15	37
1989	Pan	"Bana Bana"	21	5
1990	Kayahan	"Gözlerinin Hapsindeyim"	17	21
1991	İzel, Reyhan and Can	"İki Dakika"	12	44
1992	Aylin Vatankoş	"Yaz Bitti"	19	17
1993	Burak Aydos	"Esmer Yarim"	21	10
1995	Arzu Ece	"Sev"	16	21
1996	Şebnem Paker	"Beşinci Mevsim"	12	57
1997	Şebnem Paker and Etnik	"Dinle"	3	121
1998	Tüzmen	"Unutamazsın"	14	25
1999	Tuba Önal	"Dön Artık"	16	21
2000	Pınar Ayhan and The SOS	"Yorgunum Anla"	10	59
2001	Sedat Yüce	"Sevgiliye Son"	11	45
2002	Buket Bengisu and Safir	"Leylaklar Soldu Kalbinde"	16	29
2003	Sertab Erener	"Everyway That I Can"	1	167
2004	Athena	"For Real"	4	195	X	X
2005	Gülseren	"Rimi Rimi Ley"	13	92	X	X
2006	Sibel Tüzün	"Süperstar"	11	91	8	91
2007	Kenan Doğulu	"Shake It Up Şekerim"	4	163	3	197
2008	Mor ve Ötesi	"Deli"	7	138	7	85
2009	Hadise	"Düm Tek Tek"	4	177	2	172
2010	maNga	"We Could Be the Same"	2	170	1	118
2011	Yüksek Sadakat	"Live It Up"	X	X	13	47
2012	Can Bonomo	"Love Me Back"

Voting history (1975–2011)

Turkey has given the most points to...

Rank	Country	Points
1	United Kingdom	126
2	Bosnia and Herzegovina	119
=	Ireland	119
3	Spain	118
4	Germany	86
5	Yugoslavia	80

Turkey has received the most points from...

Rank	Country	Points
1	Germany	162
2	France	146
3	Netherlands	124
4=	Switzerland	101
4=	Belgium	101

Since introducing the semi-finals in 2004

Turkey has given the most points to...

Rank	Country	Points
1	Bosnia and Herzegovina	71
2	Azerbaijan	48
3	Armenia	44
4	Greece	40
5	Ukraine	39
6	Russia	26
	Albania	26
7	Moldova	22
	Georgia	22
8	Romania	21
9	Germany	19
10	Macedonia	16

Turkey has received the most points from...

Rank	Country	Points
1	France	82
2	Germany	76
3	Netherlands	74
4	Belgium	69
5	Albania	61
6	Bosnia and Herzegovina	60
7	Switzerland	55
8	Macedonia	53
9	United Kingdom	52
10	Romania	48

NOTE: The totals in the above tables include only points awarded in Eurovision finals, and not the semi-finals since 2004.

Hostings

Year	City	Venue	Presenter
2004	Istanbul	Abdi İpekçi Arena	Korhan Abay and Meltem Cumbul

Commentators

Prior to 2011 every contest Turkey has taken part has always been commentated by Turkish television presenters Bülend Özveren, with the exception of 1982-1985, 1990-1991, 1998-2001 and 2007. In addition Özveren also co-commentated the contest in 1979, 2004 and 2011. Out of the 38 years Turkey have broadcast the event Özveren has commentated on 28 of them making him 10 years shorter of being the Contest's longest commentator.

Year(s)	Commentator	Spokesperson
1973	Bülend Özveren	Turkey did not participate
1974	Bülend Özveren	Turkey did not participate
1975	Bülend Özveren	Bülent Osma
1976	Bülend Özveren	Turkey did not participate
1977	Bülend Özveren	Turkey did not participate
1978	Bülend Özveren	Meral Savcı
1979	Bülend Özveren & Başak Doğru	Turkey did not participate
1980	Bülend Özveren	Başak Doğru
1981	Bülend Özveren	Başak Doğru
1982	Ümit Tunçağ	Başak Doğru
1983	Başak Doğru	Fatih Orbay
1984	Başak Doğru	Fatih Orbay
1985	Başak Doğru	Fatih Orbay
1986	Bülend Özveren	Ümit Tunçağ
1987	Bülend Özveren	Canan Kumbasar
1988	Bülend Özveren	Canan Kumbasar
1989	Bülend Özveren	Canan Kumbasar
1990	Başak Doğru	Korhan Abay
1991	Başak Doğru	Canan Kumbasar
1992	Bülend Özveren	Korhan Abay
1993	Bülend Özveren	Ömer Önder
1994	Bülend Özveren	Turkey did not participate
1995	Bülend Özveren	Ömer Önder
1996	Bülend Özveren	Ömer Önder
1997	Bülend Özveren	Ömer Önder
1998	Ömer Önder	Osman Erkan
1999	Gülşah Banda	Osman Erkan
2000	Ömer Önder	Osman Erkan
2001	Ömer Önder	Meltem Ersan Yazgan
2002	Bülend Özveren	Meltem Ersan Yazgan
2003	Bülend Özveren	Meltem Ersan Yazgan
2004	Didem Tolunay & Bülend Özveren	Meltem Ersan Yazgan
2005	Bülend Özveren	Meltem Ersan Yazgan
2006	Bülend Özveren	Meltem Ersan Yazgan
2007	Hakan Urgancı	Meltem Ersan Yazgan
2008	Bülend Özveren	Meltem Ersan Yazgan
2009	Bülend Özveren	Meltem Ersan Yazgan
2010	Bülend Özveren	Meltem Ersan Yazgan
2011	Bülend Özveren & Erhan Konuk	Ömer Önder

See also

• Turkish pop music
• Music of Turkey
• Turks in Europe

External links

• Turkey on the official Eurovision Song Contest website
• eurovision-turkey.com Independent Turkish Eurovision web site
• Lyrics of all Turkish Eurovision entries
• Points to and from Turkey eurovisioncovers.co.uk