Turkey took part in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

. The country was represented by

Ayşegül Aldinç Ayşegül Aldinç (; born 28 September 1957) is a Turkish singer and actress. Life and career She is the daughter of journalist and sports writer Orhan Aldinç and painting teacher Süheyla Aldinç. Growing in Cihangir, Due to the works of her ...

and a trio named

Modern Folk Üçlüsü Modern Folk Üçlüsü ("Modern Folklore Trio") is a Turkish music trio. As the name implies, their main source is Turkish folklore songs (Türkü). Early years The group was founded in July 1969 by Doğan Canku, Ahmet Kurtaran and Selami Karai ...

with the song "Dönme Dolap" written and composed by Ali Kocatepe.

Before Eurovision

5. Eurovision Şarkı Yarışması Türkiye Finali

The final took place on 14 February 1981 at the TRT Studios in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

, hosted by

Bülend Özveren Bülend Özveren (1943 – 18 October 2022) was a Turkish television presenter and sports commentator. Özveren completed his secondary education at (Istanbul) and higher education at Galatasaray High School. He graduated from Istanbul Univers ...

. Six songs competed and the winner was determined by a jury consisting of members of the public.

At Eurovision

On the night of the contest Ayşegül Aldinç and Modern Folk Üçlüsü performed second in the running order following

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and preceding

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. At the close of the voting the song received 9 points, thus Dönme Dolap shared 18th place with

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. Turkish jury awarded 12 points to

. Members of the Turkish jury included Süheyla Aldoğan, Hidayet Yarken, Hatice Akbaş, Lüftiye Duman, Nebiye Yazıcı, Nesrin Demirel, Sami Ersoy, Mehmet Kuteş, Mustafa Ekinci, Cengiz Doğan, and Ali Arslan.Yarışmacı ülkeler ve halk jürisi, Milliyet, 4 April 1981

Voting

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1981

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1981

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...