Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

participated in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2012 The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following the country's victory at the with the song " Running Scared" by the duo Ell & Nikki. It was the first time Azerb ...

with the song "Love Me Back" written and performed by

Can Bonomo Can Bonomo (Hebrew: ג'אן בונומו, born 16 May 1987) is a Turkish-Jewish singer who represented Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Early life Bonomo was born in İzmir, Turkey to a Sephardic Jewish family. At ...

. The entry was selected through an internal selection organised by Turkish broadcaster Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu (TRT). Turkey qualified from the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest and went on to place seventh in the final out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 112 points. , this was the last Turkish entry in the contest, before the country withdrew the following year. The absence has continued in every edition since.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 22 September 2011, TRT opened the suggestions for the public to nominate potential artists for consideration. On 9 January 2012, TRT announced during the

TRT 1 TRT 1 (''TRT One'') is the first Turkish national television channel, owned by state broadcaster TRT. It was launched on 31 January 1968 as a test broadcast and was officially launched in December 1971. It was the only channel in Turkey until 15 ...

evening news bulletin that singer

had been internally selected to represent Turkey in Baku. Prior to the announcement of Can Bonomo as the Turkish representative, rumoured artists in Turkish media included

Atiye Deniz Atiye Yılmaz (born 22 November 1988), originally known by the artist name Atiye Deniz () and later by the mononym Atiye, is a Turkish pop singer. She releases songs in Turkish, Arabic and English. Career The second album by Atiye was s ...

Hande Yener Makbule Hande Özyener (born 12 January 1973), better known by her stage name Hande Yener, is a Turkish singer. She made her debut in the early 2000s, and since then has become a prominent figure of Turkish pop music with numerous songs that topp ...

, Kıraç and Sıla. Three songs were submitted by Bonomo to the broadcaster in February 2012 and a selection committee selected "Love Me Back" as the song they would perform at the contest. On 22 February 2012, "Love Me Back" was presented to the public during a television special which took place at the TRT Tepebaşı Studios in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, hosted by Işık Özden and

Husniyya Maharramova Husniyya Ikram gizi Maharramova ( az, Hüsniyyə İkram qızı Məhərrəmova, born September 30, 1981) is an Azerbaijani TV presenter, commentator, producer and head of the Azerbaijani delegation of the Eurovision Song Contest. Biography Husn ...

. The show was broadcast on TRT 1 and

TRT Müzik TRT Müzik is a Turkish television channel owned and operated by TRT. It broadcasts 24 hours music TV programmes featuring music magazines and talkshows. TRT Müzik can also be watched on TRT 4 TRT 4 was a Turkish television program. Before 2 ...

as well as online via the broadcaster's official website ''trt.net.tr'' and the official Eurovision Song Contest website ''eurovision.tv''. The song was written by Can Bonomo himself.

At Eurovision

Turkey competed in the second half of the second semi-final (13th on stage), on 24 May 2012, following

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and preceding

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. Can Bonomo received 80 points and placed 5th, thus qualifying for the final on 26 May. The public awarded Turkey 4th place with 114 points and the jury awarded 13th place with 42 points. In the final, Turkey was drawn to perform 18th, after

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and preceding

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. The Turkish entry scored a total of 112 points and placed 7th in the final, with the public awarding Turkey 4th place with 176 points and the jury awarding 22nd place with 50 points.

Voting

Points awarded to Turkey

Points awarded by Turkey

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2012

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Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012

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 ...