Turkey took part in the Eurovision Song Contest 1980. The country was represented by

Ajda Pekkan Ayşe Ajda Pekkan (; born 12 February 1946) is a Turkish singer. She is known by the title "superstar" in the Turkish media. Pekkan became a prominent figure of Turkish pop music with her songs, in which she tried to create a strong female figure. ...

with the song "Pet'r Oil" written by Şanar Yurdatapan and composed by

Attila Özdemiroğlu Attila Özdemiroğlu (5 January 1943 – 20 April 2016) was a Turkish composer, arranger and music producer. He was best known for his award winning film scores in the 1970s and 1980s. Career Born on 5 January 1943 in Ankara, Özdemiroğlu go ...

Before Eurovision

4. Eurovision Şarkı Yarışması Türkiye Finali

The final took place on 24 February 1980 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 Univer ...

. All songs were performed by

and the winning song was determined by an expert jury in two rounds. In the first round, the lowest-scoring song was eliminated. In the second round, "Pet'r Oil" was selected as the winning song.

At Eurovision

On the night of the contest Pekkan performed second in the running order following Austria and preceding Greece. At the close of the voting the song received 23 points, placing 15th in a field of 19 countries. This result was seen by disappointment both by Pekkan and the Turkish audience. The Turkish jury awarded its 12 points to the Netherlands.

Voting

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1980

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1980

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 ...