Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest

Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest
Participating broadcaster	Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT)
Participation summary
Appearances	34 (33 finals)
First appearance	1975
Last appearance	2012
Highest placement	1st: 2003
Host	2004
Participation history 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 – 2024
External links
Turkey's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012

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". Turkey's other top five results are Athena (2004), Kenan Doğulu (2007), Hadise (2009), who all finished fourth, and Manga (2010), who finished second.

The Turkish broadcaster TRT announced in December 2012 that it would not participate in the 2013 contest, citing dissatisfaction with the rules of the competition.^[1] 2013 was the first time since 1979 that there was no television broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest on TRT. The country has not returned to the contest since.^[2][3]