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 2002 The Eurovision Song Contest 2002 was the 47th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tallinn, Estonia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Everybody" by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL. Organised by the Euro ...

with the song "Leylaklar Soldu Kalbinde" written by Samih Hodara, Figen Çakmak and Fani Hodara. The song was performed by

Buket Bengisu and Group Safir Buket Bengisu (born 19 September 1978) is a Turkish singer. She finished her primary studies in Istanbul. She grew up in a family that was closely associated with music, as her father was a bassist and her mother was a pianist. In 1996, she enrolle ...

. The Turkish entry for the 2002 contest in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

, Estonia was selected through the national final ''25. Eurovision Şarkı Yarışması Türkiye Finali'', which was organised by the Turkish broadcaster Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu (TRT). Seven artists and song competed in a televised show on 15 February 2002 where the winner, "Leylaklar Soldu Kalbinde" performed by Buket Bengisu and Group Safir was selected by a ten-member jury panel. Turkey competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 25 May 2002. Performing during the show in position 19, Turkey placed sixteenth out of the 24 participating countries, scoring 29 points.

Background

Prior to the 2002 contest, Turkey had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 23 times since its first entry in 1975. Turkey missed the 1977 contest because Arab countries pressured the Turkish government to withdraw from the contest because of the dispute over the

Status of Jerusalem The status of Jerusalem is disputed in both international law and diplomatic practice, with both the Israelis and Palestinians claiming Jerusalem as their capital city.Moshe Hirsch, Deborah Housen-Couriel, Ruth Lapidoth''Whither Jerusalem?: Pro ...

and 1994 contest due to a poor average score from the preceding contests, which ultimately led to relegation. To this point, the country's best placing was third, which it achieved in 1997 with the song "Dinle" performed by Sebnem Paker and Grup Etnik. Turkey's least successful result was in 1987 when it placed 22nd (last) with the song "Şarkım Sevgi Üstüne" by Seyyal Taner and Lokomotif, receiving 0 points in total. The Turkish national broadcaster, Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu (TRT), broadcasts the event within Turkey and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Since the nation's debut at the contest in 1975, the broadcaster selected their representative through a national final with the exception of

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 – ...

when the artist was internally selected. In order to select the Turkish representative at the 2002 contest, TRT once again opted to organise a national final to select both the artist and song.

Before Eurovision

25. Eurovision Şarkı Yarışması Türkiye Finali

TRT organised the national final ''25. Eurovision Şarkı Yarışması Türkiye Finali'' in order to select Turkey's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2002. The broadcaster opened a submission period for interested artists and songwriters to submit their entries, which were required to be written in

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

, for the competition until 26 November 2001 and 195 submissions were received at the closing of the deadline. A ten-member committee selected five entries from the received submissions to compete in the national final, which took place on 15 February 2002 at the TRT Arı Studio 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 Ömer Önder and Nazli Meltem Ersan and broadcast on

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 ...

as well as TRT Int. The winner, "Leylaklar Soldu Kalbinde" performed by Buket Bengisu and Grup Safir, was determined by the votes of a ten-member jury panel. In addition to the performances of the competing entries,

Sertab Erener Sertab Erener (born 4 December 1964) is a Turkish singer, songwriter and composer. With her coloratura soprano voice, she started working as a backing vocalist for Sezen Aksu, and with Aksu's help she released her first studio album in the 1990s ...

, 2000 Turkish Eurovision entrant

Pınar Ayhan Pınar Ayhan (née Karakoç; born 28 March 1972) is a Turkish singer, most notable for participating in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000. Music career Eurovision Ayhan first participated in the Turkish national finals in 1996, in a duet with ...

and 2001 Turkish Eurovision entrant

Sedat Yüce Sedat Yüce (born 24 May 1976) is a Turkish singer. He represented Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001. He also attempted to participate in ''O Ses Türkiye'', the Turkish version of ''The Voice'', which garnered a negative response. Eur ...

performed as guests.

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2002 took place at

Saku Suurhall Unibet Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the Haabersti subdistrict of the Estonian capital, Tallinn. Opened in November 2001, it is the largest multi-purpose hall in the country with around 7,000 seats but can hold up to 10,000 people. It ...

in Tallinn, Estonia, on 25 May 2002. The participants list included the previous year's winning country, the "

Big Four Big Four or Big 4 may refer to: Groups of companies * Big Four accounting firms: Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PwC * Big Four (airlines) in the U.S. in the 20th century: American, Eastern, TWA, United * Big Four (banking), several groupings ...

" countries, consisting of , , and the , any eligible countries which did not compete in the 2001 contest, and countries which had obtained the highest average points total at the previous year's contest, up to 24 total participants. On 9 November 2001, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Turkey was set to perform in position 19, following the entry from

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 ...

and before the entry from

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. Turkey finished in sixteenth place scoring 29 points. The contest was broadcast in Turkey on

and TRT Int with commentary by Ömer Önder. The Turkish spokesperson, who announced the results of the Turkish jury during the final, was Meltem Ersan Yazgan.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Turkey and awarded by Turkey in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Austria in the contest.

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2002

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002

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 ...