This morning, Müdürü İbrahim Şahin, the General Manager of the Turkish broadcaster TRT, confirmed what many were expecting: Turkey won’t be taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Vienna. The country will therefore sit out of the contest for the third consecutive year.
TRT decided to withdraw two years ago due to dissatisfaction with the current split voting system as well as the Big 5 rule. It has also been mentioned that “homosexual content” such as Krista Siegfrids’ lesbian kiss in 2013 played a role in the decision as well.
Last year, TRT launched Türkvizyon, a format strongly inspired by the Eurovision Song Contest. The 2014 edition will take place on 19 and 21 November in Tatarstan. So far 16 countries and regions have confirmed their participation.
Turkey made its Eurovision debut in 1975 and managed to win the competition once since then: In 2003, Sertab Erener brought the contest to Istanbul with her song Everyway That I Can. The last Turkish ESC entry to Eurovision was Can Bonomo’s Love Me Back in 2012.
Source: TRT
