Turkey's Eurovision Song Contest hopeful Kenan Doğulu departed for Helsinki yesterday, brimming with confience and with very high hopes for this year's entry Shake it up shekerim.

The Turkish star was greeted by a crowd of press at Istanbul's Atatürk Airport, who were told to expect "ten days marked with success". Moreover, Kenan stresses his winning attitude towards his participation in the Helsinki event: "I believe we will be among the top three. Of course, my first aim is to win first place. And I believe we will win in any case. My favorite is 'Shake it up shekerim,' and I'm not saying this because it's my song; I listened to most of the contestants and my song deserves to be in the top three acts. I hope it becomes the winner".

All about the show
Kenan has acknowledged the move towards the 'show' aspect of Eurovision winners over the last few years, and an energetic stage show along with a Ceyda Balaban outfit studded with 48,000 crystals will take the Turkish team some way to pulling that off in Hartwall.

Turkey takes to the stage for rehearsals for the first time tomorrow.

CLICK HERE FOR THE EXCLUSIVE REMIX STUDIO INTERVIEW AND LISTENING
CLICK HERE FOR THE KENAN DOGULU ESCTODAY.COM INTERVIEW IN ATHENS