The week starts with something probably unexpected! This year’s Eurovision Song Contest sees its first returning artist, as the Sanmarinese national broadcaster SMRTV announced that the famous Turkish singer Serhat is going to fly their flag next May in Tel Aviv!

Against all rumours

Following a couple of weeks with intense speculation on who is the selected “international artist” that will represent the microstate in Israel, his name’s revelation came as a suprise. Despite the initial rumours that the British-Brazilian singer and performer Rodrigo Alves or the Russian songstress Daryanna Kraieva could be this year’s entrants, the ticket was finally offered to the country’s 2016 hopeful!

Serhat is very glad to represent the microstate again after 3 years and says:

San Marino is always in my heart, our friendship lasts forever and Eurovision 2016 was probably one of the best memories of my career. Despite my tight schedule, it didn’t take me long to decide. I am very proud to represent San Marino for the second time!

While the broadcaster is proud of their 10th Eurovision participation and underlines that he was probably the most appropriate choice at the moment:

When we started to plan the next Eurovision edition, we realized that this participation will be our 10th entry.  It is a “round” number, an important goal for us, and we thought that we should celebrate our anniversary in Israel, with someone special.

We were always in touch with Serhat during the last two years, having celebrated together his big success in the USA Billboard dance charts with “I didn’t know”, congratulated with him for his collaboration with Helena Paparizou.

Serhat always had a special place in our strongest experiences and now after 2016, we are fully empowered and believe that Serhat being full of interesting ideas, is the right choice in the right moment.

However, SMRTV didn’t skip a mention to the rest artists that expressed their interest in performing on the Eurovision stage on behalf of San Marino. Everyone has the broadcaster’s warmest thanks and a future collaboration with them is always possible.

Serhat’s Eurovision song will be released in the weeks to come!

Are you excited about San Marino’s choice?
Do you believe that Tel Aviv is going to be Serhat’s lucky city?