Turkish fans ‘push’ for a Eurovision return in 2017

Dedicated Turkish Eurovision fans are pulling together tomorrow in an effort to make their voice heard to EBU member and former Eurovision broadcaster, TRT.

Turkish Radio and Television Corporation debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1975 and to begin with, had a rocky road at the contest where they managed to finish last place twice in their first ten years. Despite their poor results, they must be applauded for their dedication as they continued participating and eventually reached the top 5 in 1997 with the ethno-pop number ‘Dinle’ performed by Şebnem Paker & Grup Etnic. It wasn’t long before Turkey were flying high at Eurovision, securing their first win just six years after with Sertab Erener’s infectious pop anthem ‘Every Way That I Can’. From this point on, Turkey had the recipe for success and ended up in the top 10 a total of six times between 2004 and 2012, their last appearance at the contest.
Why did Turkey decide to withdraw in 2012? TRT’s official answer is that they were unhappy with the introduction of the juries and in more recent years, we’ve heard claims that they are particularly unhappy with the ‘Big 6’ being eligable to skip the semi’s and become automatic finalists. But what’s the state of play now?, We haven’t actually heard anything from TRT in a while and since the above claims, we’ve seen a major change to the voting system. We’ve also had a winning song that isn’t in English and features that same Ethnic flavour that Turkey used to bring to the competition. Could a return be on the cards soon? Turkish fans are not wasting any time in campaigning for it.
Twitter accounts @Eurovisn_Turkey, @EurovisionTR_ & @Turkey_Esc are leading the campaign, with an audience of over 20,000 users between them. They are encouraging fans to send out tweets with the hashtag #Eurovision at 20.45 CET this Friday, 16th September. It is hoped, the tweets will gain interest within the Turkish media that eventually, will be relayed back to the Turkish broadcaster.

Cuma günü saat 21.45'de Eurovision'a donmemiz
için bir hastag çalışması düzenleyeceğiz. Desteklerinizi
bekliyoruz.@Turkey_esc @EurovisionTR_

— Eurovision Türkiye (@Eurovisn_Turkey) September 11, 2016

Support Turkey for Eurovision on this friday at 20.45 CET @ESCAlbania @Eurowizja2017 @wiwibloggs @Eurovision @ESCGREECE

— Eurovision Turkey (@Turkey_Esc) September 15, 2016

Broadcasters keen to participate in next year’s contest must provisionally register their interest by the end of this month. An official list of competing countries will be published by the EBU towards the end of the year.
Will the campaign be a success and bring Turkey back once and for all?  As always stick with us for all the latest developments on next year’s contest.