In the wake of the latest developments in Turkey regarding the country’s potential return to our beloved competition, the EBU has released a stament on this issue confirming it is in talks with TRT.

Last week, the CEO of TRT, Mr. Ibrahim Eren stated that the EBU was in touch with TRT regarding Turkey’s possible return to Eurovision. This sparked much speculation amid the fandom who have been anticapating the country’s return to the competition.

The EBU released the following statement today:

Although the EBU’s Turkish Member TRT hasn’t participated in the Eurovision Song Contest since 2012 we know there is still huge interest in Turkey in the Contest underlined by the large amount of engagement on our social channels from Turkish fans.

With that in mind, we are in contact with TRT with the aim of bringing them back into the competition.

TRT has made a huge contribution to the Contest in the past, including hosting the event in Istanbul in 2004, and we would very much welcome them back should they decide to participate again.

Will we see Turkey in Italy?

Turkey withdrew from the competition in 2013 and has not returned since citing its discontent with the BIG 5 rule and voting system.

The deadline for countries to apply for participation for Eurovision 2022 is set to conclude by mid September, whilst the grace period for countries to withdraw their application without a penalty concludes by mid October.

Hence we will have to wait for a few months in order to find out if Turkey does intend to join the Eurovision family after a 9 year hiatus or if it will continue its absence from the event for yet another year.

Turkey in Eurovision

Turkey debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1975 and has won the event once in 2003 with Sertab Erener‘s Every that I can. The country has partaken 34 times in the Eurovision Song Contest and has been absent from the competition since 2013.

Turkey has placed 6 times in the TOP 5 in its 34 year history in the competition including 1 victory (2003), 1 2nd placing (2010),  1 3rd placing (1997) and 3 4th placings ( 2004, 2007, 2009)

Source: EBU