''Popstar Türkiye'' () was a

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

music competition A music competition is a public event designed to identify and award outstanding musical ensembles, solo (music), soloists, composers, conducting, conductors, musicologists or compositions. Pop music competitions are music competitions which are h ...

television series based on the international franchise

Popstars ''Popstars'' is an international reality television franchise aimed to find new singing talent. Serving as a precursor to the ''Idol'' franchise, '' Popstars'' first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the girl gr ...

. The show was hosted by

Haldun Dormen Ahmet Haldun Dormen (born 5 April 1928) is a Turkish theater, movie and TV series actor and film director. Dormen is of Turkish Cypriot descent. Biography His father Sait Ömer Bey was a Cypriot businessman, while his mother Nimet Rüştü ...

and

Gamze Özçelik Gamze Özçelik (born 26 August 1982) is a Turkish actress, model and TV hostess. She is best known for hit crime series ''Arka Sokaklar'' which also starred her former husband Uğur Pektaş. ''Arka Sokaklar'' is known for being the longest run ...

Kanal D Kanal D (English: Channel D) is a nationwide television channel in Turkey that is part of Demirören Group. It was founded by Ayhan Şahenk and Aydın Doğan in 1993. The network has also run an international channel, Euro D, since 1996, whic ...

. The judges were

Armağan Çağlayan Armağan Ali Çağlayan (born 8 April 1966) is a Turkish television producer and lawyer. Career Çağlayan taught Creativity in Communication as a research assistant at the Faculty of Art and Design at Istanbul Kültür University and lectur ...

Ercan Saatçi Ercan Saatçi, born on 13 March 1968, is a distinguished Turkish musician and record producer. Hailing from parents with roots in Bayburt, he has become a prominent figure in the Turkish music scene, particularly within Grup Vitamin, gaining wid ...

, Ahmet San, and

Deniz Seki Deniz Seki (born July 1, 1970) is a Turkish pop singer, songwriter and composer. Personal life Deniz Seki was born in Istanbul, Turkey on July 1, 1970. She has two younger brothers Serdar and Serkan. She completed her education in Çamlıca Hig ...

later replaced by

Zerrin Özer Zerrin Özer (born 4 November 1957) is a Turkish pop singer. She has been called Turkey's Janis Joplin by several fans. She has many famous hits such as "Gönül" (Heart), "Son Mektup" (The Last Letter), "Dayanamıyorum" (I Can't Stand It), "D� ...

. The TV show was a big hit on Turkish television when it was aired. The winner of the show was Abidin Özşahin, Firdevs Güneş got second place, and Bayhan Gürhan third place. The winner was going to be sent to the United States for a musical education. But one of the judges also proposed to send the runner-up to get the same education and offered to pay for the expenses.Popstar Türkiye
/ref> After Popstar Türkiye a spin-off was created named

Türkstar ''Türkstar'' was a 2004 Turkish reality television singing competition show based on the popular British show ''Pop Idol''. It was hosted by Seray Sever, Gamze Özçelik and Haldun Dormen. It had extremely low ratings and only lasted one sea ...

which was broadcast on

Show TV Show TV is a Turkish free-to-air national television channel, established in 1991 by Erol Aksoy, Dinç Bilgin, Haldun Simavi and Erol Simavi, owned by the Can Holding. History The channel replaces Cine5's now-defunct frequencies, and it was ...

, and after that another spin-off was created named Popstar Alaturka which focused on

Arabesque music Arabesque () is a style of Turkish music popular in Turkey, the Balkans, the Caucasus, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. The genre was particularly popular in Turkey from the 1960s through the 2000s. Its aesthetics have evolved over the dec ...

. The television series also released a CD album with each contestant singing a song, and later also a Top 10 album with the best songs of each contestant.

Auditions

To attract contestants, the preliminary rounds were in August and the first half of September in 2003 promoted on TV and application forms were distributed in newspapers by

under the slogan "the popstar of the future". The requirements to participate was to be at least 18 years old. A total of 3,000 people had applied to participate. The auditions were held at: * 2 September 2003 -

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

Crowne Plaza * 5 September 2003 -

Antalya Antalya is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anatolia's southwest coast, flanked by the Tau ...

IC Airport * 7 September 2003 -

Adana Adana is a large city in southern Turkey. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the northeastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the administrative seat of the Adana Province, Adana province, and has a population of 1 81 ...

Hilton Hotel * 10 September 2003 -

Malatya Malatya (; ; Syriac language, Syriac ܡܠܝܛܝܢܐ Malīṭīná; ; Ancient Greek: Μελιτηνή) is a city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital of Malatya Province. The city has been a human settlement for thousands of y ...

Altın Kayısı Hotel * 12 September 2003 -

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

Hilton Hotel * 15 September 2003 -

Samsun Samsun is a List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, city on the north coast of Turkey and a major Black Sea port. The urban area recorded a population of 738,692 in 2022. The city is the capital of Samsun Province which has a population of ...

Büyük Samsun Hotel * 17–18 September 2003 -

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Sürmeli Hotel Kanal D started to air the auditions on TV under the name of ''Popstar Aranıyor'' () 4 October 2003.

Controversy

During the elimination rounds quite a few controversial moments happened: * 4th week: It was revealed that Bayhan had a criminal record. And spend four years behind bars for murder. * 5th week: After Bayhan won the first place

started criticizing the voters. She thought that someone with such a criminal past shouldn't be able to become a popstar. The audience started booing her, so she left the show. :That week shots were also fired on Ahmet San's jeep.Ahmet San'a silahlı saldırı... (English: Armed assault on Ahmet San...)
/ref> * 6th week:

replaced Deniz Seki as a judge. This week also a semi-nude picture of Barış posing for the Aktüel magazine was revealed which was heavily criticized by the judges.

Elimination chart

Colour key Note * ¹ Judge

criticized Bayhan over his criminal past when he won the first place, the crowd booed her which made her leave the TV show on the spot, not wanting to return as judge as long as Bayhan was still a contestant on the show. The next week she was replaced by

Discography

* ''Popstar Türkiye - Various artists'' (December 2003) * ''Popstar Top 10 En İyi Performans Şarkıları - Various artists'' (2004)

References

External links

* * {{Discogs release, release=3068172, name=Popstar Top 10 En İyi Performans Şarkıları, type=album Kanal D original programming 2000s Turkish television series 2003 Turkish television series debuts 2004 Turkish television series endings Turkish-language television shows Popstars Television series by Fremantle (company)