The rumour mill is hot as iron these days, specially when we talk about the much anticipated and awaited return of Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest.

A few weeks ago, Turkish Eurovision winner Sertab Erener sent the Eurovision community into a frenzy when she hinted that Turkey could be back in Eurovision next year, leading to much speculation both at home in Turkey and overseas.

Whilst TRT remains tight lipped regarding its plans for Lisbon and the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest, today the 2010 Turkish Eurovision hopefuls maNga sparked more fireworks by tweeting about Eurovision. The Turkish group have posted a tweet teasing their fans about a possible Eurovision return!

Fans both in Turkey and overseas have gone berserk with delight after the group’s tweet last night, thus building the excitement and anticipation  of a possible Turkish Eurovision return next year.

Eurovision ? Yine yeni yeniden…

— maNga (@maNgaMusic) August 1, 2017

maNga and Eurovision

maNga are a household name both at home in Turkey and overseas. The Turkish group won the MTV Europe Music Award for best European Act in 2009. The following year, the lads represented Turkey at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest in Olso narrowly missing out on bagging the trophy to Germany’s Lena. maNga gave Turkey its 2nd best placing in the contest in Oslo. Are the guys preparing a comeback?

[UPD]

Following the aftermath and havoc caused by their earlier tweet, the Turkish band posted a new message on their official Twitter account stating that they are not intending to compete in Eurovision next year. Their tweet was just a reaction to a possible Turkish return to Eurovision.

pic.twitter.com/aeC84lIz8I

— maNga (@maNgaMusic) August 2, 2017

maNga have a massive fan following throughout the world and a potential Eurovision participation would be epic!

Turkey and Eurovision

Turkey joined the Eurovision family in 1975 and has won the competition in 2003 with Sertab Erener‘s Every way that I can. The country struggled in the competition in its early days but saw a sudden reversal of fortunes with the introduction of televoting in 1997, when Turkey achieved its first top 5 placing with Sebnem Paker‘s Dinle. Since then the Eurovision journey has been a happy one with a total of  9 top 10 placings.

The Turks have achieved a total of 6 top 5 placings in the contest in their 42 year history: 1 victory (2003), 1 2nd place (2010), 1 3rd place (1997), 3 4th places (1997, 2007 and 2009).

Why did Turkey withdraw?

Turkey withdrew from the competition in 2013 and has remained absent since, thus missing out the last 5 Eurovision editions.

Turkey decided to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013. TRT, the national Turkish broadcaster, announced in a communique on their official website on the 14 December 2012 that Turkey would not compete at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden.

The broadcaster’s reasons for withdrawing from the event in 2013 event were that the changes in the voting system of the contest: introduction of 50/50 jury and televoting deliberation, and the Big 5 rule, enabling Spain, Italy, the UK, France and Germany to automatically qualify every year for the final. The broadcaster expressed its discontent regarding these rules and felt they were not fair.

Will we see Turkey return to Eurovision in 2018?

It’s still early days yet to know how many countries will compete in Lisbon next year and who’s in and who’s out of the competition as the deadline for broadcasters to officially apply for Eurovision 2018 concludes by mid September. Hereafter, countries have a grace period to confirm their participation or withdraw their application without a penalty.

One thing is for sure that everyone wants to join the party in Lisbon next May. RTP will be doing its level best to welcome all competing countries to Eurovision next year.

Would you like to see Turkey return to Eurovision next year? Who would you like to see represent Turkey in Eurovision if they were to comeback?