A new committee has been formed by the Turkish Parliament to propose ways for the protection and development of the Turkish language. One of the issues the committee will be looking at is the language in which the country's representatives will be singing in the Eurovision Song Contest.
The Turkish Parliament is currently working on the development of a new educational system and new legislation to protect and develop the country's language against degeneration. A Parliamentary Reasearch Commission was formed to determine measures which are necessary for this.
One of the issues the commission mentioned is that Turkey should compete with Turkish lyrics in the Eurovision Song Contest.The final proposal has not been submitted yet and it will be up to the Turkish Parliament to decide whether this rule will be included in the project.
Turkey competed 3 times entirely in English. In 2003, Sertab won the Eurovision Song Contest with Everyway that I can, in 2004, Athena came 4th with For real and in 2007 Kenan Doğulu came 4th again with Shake it up şekerim. Turkey also competed 4 times in Turkish and English. The country’s first top 3 position came with Dinle in 1997 . That was the most successful Turkish entry with Turkish lyrics besides 2008, Deli ( 7th) and 1986, Halley(9th).
A very special thank you to Hakan Yalcinkaya for the submission of the article.
