No return for Turkey in Eurovision Song Contest

CAIRO – 8 August 2017: Turkey will not return to the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest, said Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag during a press conference held in TRT headquarters in Ankara on Monday, August 7.

Several rumors were sparked last month by Sertab Erener, the 2003 Turkish Eurovision winner, and Manga band, Turkish Rock Band that represented Turkey in Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo, about that Turkey will participate in Eurovision Song Contest 2018, causing many hype in the Turkish community, but Bozdag stated “There is nothing like that now”.

It is the fifth year that Turkey is not participating in the contest, as the last time the Turks competed at Eurovision was in 2012.

Turkey won the event in 2003 with Sertab Erener’s “Everyway That I Can”. The country also hosted the event in Istanbul in 2004.

Eurovision Song Contest gathers singers from 43 countries that form the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the world’s leading alliance of public service media that has 73 members operating almost 2,000 television, radio and online channels and services, and offering a wealth of content across other platforms.

The 2018 Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Lisbon, Portugal on May 8, 10 and 12 next year, with 22 countries participating, including Russia, who had withdrawn from the 2017 contest in Ukraine after Ukraine had banned Samoylova from traveling to the capital of Kiev due to allegations that she illegally entered Crimea to perform in 2015, as stated by CNN.