Turkey: TRT in talks with EBU about the Eurovision Song Contest; Will they open the way for a return in 2022?

Saturday, 19 June 2021

• The General Manager of the Turkish national broadcaster, TRT,  has confirmed to local media that they are in talks with EBU about the Eurovision Song Contest. 

   TRT's General Manager, İbrahim Eren, taking to Milliyet, stated the national broadcaster is in discussions with EBU regarding the Eurovision Song Contest. This is the first time an TRT official has confirmed talks with the EBU around the contest bringing the competition back in TRT's agenda. 

  Precisely, Mr. Eren stated to the Turkish Media outlet when asked about Turkey's absence: 

  “TRT has taken a decision on this matter in the past; "We will not participate until the scoring system changes. Our Board of Directors still continues with the same decision, but meanwhile, we are also in talks with 'Eurovision'. A very good person came to 'Eurovision' from Northern Europe. I think this year was very successful. After a long time, they had a nice competition. Our friends started meeting with the newcomer. I don't know what will happen?"

   Whether these talks will end to Turkey's return in the contest is something we'll have to wait and see. The fact is that EBU has always spoken warmly about a potential return of Turkey in the contest. The time Turkey was participating in the competition it was one of the biggest markets with millions of viewers tuning on the event.

   

  Turkey In Eurovision

  Turkey has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 34 times since its debut in 1975. Since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004, Turkey has only failed to qualify for the final once, in 2011. Turkey won the contest once in 2003, and hosted the 2004 contest in Istanbul.

  Turkey finished last on its debut at the contest in 1975, and went on to finish last with nul points in 1983 and 1987. They reached the top ten for the first time in 1986. Şebnem Paker achieved the country's first top five result in 1997, finishing third with the song "Dinle".

  The country went on to achieve five more top five placements after the introduction of the free language rule and televoting, with Sertab Erener giving Turkey its first victory in 2003 with the song "Everyway That I Can", narrowly defeating Belgium by two points. Turkey's other top five results are Athena (2004), Kenan Doğulu (2007), Hadise (2009), who all finished fourth, and the  metal band MaNga (2010), who finished second.

  The Turkish broadcaster TRT announced in December 2012 that they would not participate in the 2013 contest in Malmö, citing dissatisfaction with the rules of the competition. 2013 was the first time since 1973 that there was no television broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest on TRT.

  Lets remember some of Turkey’s remarkable past entries in the Eurovision Song Contest :

   

  News Source: Milliyet/Eurovoix