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 2011 The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following the country's victory at the with the song "Satellite" by Lena. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union ...

with the song "Live It Up" written by Kutlu Özmakinacı and Ergün Arsal. The song was performed by

Yüksek Sadakat Yüksek Sadakat is a Turkish rock band that was formed in 1997 by Kutlu Özmakinacı, but became popular in early 2006 with their first album with the same name. The founder and bass player Kutlu Özmakinacı, used to be the editor of a music maga ...

. The entry was selected through an internal selection organised by Turkish broadcaster Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu (TRT).

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

In October 2010, Turkish Eurovision website ''eurovisiondream.com'' launched an online petition to persuade TRT to hold a national final instead of an internal selection, aiming to reach 10,000 signatures in two weeks. However, TRT announced on 1 January 2011 that the band

had been internally selected to represent Turkey in Düsseldorf. Prior to the announcement of Yüksek Sadakat 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 ...

, Ayna,

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 ...

Hayko Cepkin Hayko Cepkin (born 11 March 1978) is a Turkish musician of Armenian descent. Beginnings Hayko Cepkin has shared the stage with the likes of Kurban, Öztürk, Birol Namoğlu, Ogün Sanlısoy, Aylin Aslım, Koray Candemir and Demir Demirkan. ...

and

Şebnem Ferah Şebnem Ferah (born 12 April 1972) is a Turkish singer, songwriter, composer, and guitarist. She was the lead vocalist of the all-female hard rock band Volvox until 1994, after which she went on to pursue an illustrious solo career. Her music s ...

. Three songs, all written in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, were submitted by the band to the broadcaster in late January 2011 and a selection committee selected "Live It Up" as the song they would perform at the contest. On 25 February 2011, "Live It Up" was presented to the public during a press conference that 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, ...

, 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 online via the official Eurovision Song Contest website ''eurovision.tv''. The song was written by members of the band Kutlu Özmakinacı and Ergün Arsal.

At Eurovision

Turkey competed in the first semi-final on 10 May 2011 but did not qualify for the final, placing 13th with 47 points. The public awarded Turkey 10th place with 54 points and the jury awarded 12th place with 58 points. This was the first and as of 2012, only time that Turkey did not make it to the final since the semi-final system was introduced in 2004. It was the first year that Turkey wasn't present in a Eurovision final since 1994, when they had been relegated due to a poor result in 1993.

Voting

Points awarded to Turkey

Points awarded by Turkey

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2011

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011

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 ...