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 2004 The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the 49th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Istanbul, Turkey, following the country's victory at the with the song "Everyway That I Can" by Sertab Erener. Organised by the European Broa ...

with the song "For Real" written by

Gökhan Özoğuz Gökhan Özoğuz (born 11 October 1976) is the lead vocalist and guitarist of the Turkish ska-punk band Athena. He is the twin brother of fellow band member Hakan Özoğuz, and a founder member of the band. He performs a broad field of music fr ...

and Hakan Özoğuz. The song was performed by the band

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...

, which was internally selected by the Turkish broadcaster Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu (TRT) to represent the nation at the 2004 contest. In addition to participating in the contest, the Turkish broadcaster Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu (TRT) also hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 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, ...

after winning the competition in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

with the song "

Everyway That I Can "Everyway That I Can" is the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 sung in English by Sertab Erener for . The song was written by Demir Demirkan in early 2003 and produced and arranged by Ozan Çolakoğlu, famous for his works with pop ...

" performed by

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 1990 ...

. The announcement of Athena as the Turkish representative occurred on 2 September 2003, while their song was selected through the national final ''26. Eurovision Şarkı Yarışması Türkiye Finali''. Three songs were presented to the public between 21 and 24 January 2004 and the winning song, "For Real", was selected entirely by a public televote and announced on 24 January during the TRT 1 show ''Sayısal Gece''. As the host country, Turkey qualified to compete directly in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing in position 22 during the final, Turkey placed fourth out of the 24 participating countries with 195 points.

Background

Prior to the 2004 contest, Turkey had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 25 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. Turkey had won the contest once: in

with the song "

" performed by

. The country'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. Turkey has used various methods to select its entry in the past, such as internal selections and televised national finals to choose the performer and song to compete at Eurovision. Since the country's debut at the contest in 1975, the broadcaster has opted to select the country's representative through the national final. In order to select the Turkish representative at the 2004 contest, TRT opted to internally select the artist and organise a national final to select the song.

Before Eurovision

Artist selection

On 2 September 2003, TRT announced that the band

had been internally selected to represent Turkey in Istanbul. It was also announced that a national final would be held to select the song they would perform at the contest.

''26. Eurovision Şarkı Yarışması Türkiye Finali''

Three songs, all written by members of Athena Gökhan Özoğuz and Hakan Özoğuz, were submitted by the band to TRT for the national final and presented to the public between 21 and 24 January 2004 during special broadcasts 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 ...

, TRT Int and TRT Radyo. The public was able to vote for their favourite song via telephone and SMS until 24 January and the winning song, "For Real", was announced on the same day during the TRT 1 show ''Sayısal Gece'', hosted by Isik Özden and Ziya Kürküt.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the " Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from the semi-final in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from the semi-final progress to the final. As the host country, Turkey automatically qualified to compete in the final on 15 May 2004. In addition to their participation in the final, Turkey is also required to broadcast and vote in the semi-final. The running order for the final in addition to the semi-final was decided through an allocation draw and Turkey was subsequently drawn to perform in position 22, following the entry from

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

and before the entry from

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. Turkey placed fourth in the final, scoring 195 points. The show was broadcast in Turkey on

and TRT Int with commentary 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 ...

and Didem Tolunay. The Turkish spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Turkish televote during the final, was Meltem Ersan Yazgan.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Turkey and awarded by Turkey in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Greece in the semi-final and to Ukraine in the final of the contest.

Points awarded to Turkey

Points awarded by Turkey

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2004

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004

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 ...