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About Turkey...
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2005 Result
Points in Semi Final: N/A
Position in Semi Final: N/A
Points in Final: 92
Position in Final: 13th
2006 Contest: Must compete in Semi Final
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History (1956 to 2004)
Turkey's previous appearances: 26 year(s) out of 49
Years participated: 1975; 1978; 1980-1993; 1995-
Best result: 1st (2003)
Turkey's long-awaited victory in 2003 proved that persistence can finally pay off. Nearly thirty years after its first appearance in 1975, and with just three previous top ten finishes to show for its efforts (9th in 1986, 3rd in 1997 and 10th in 2000), Turkey finally made it. In one of the closest results ever, the winning song, Sertab Erener's 'Every way that I can', squeaked home with just 2 points more than Belgium, and 3 more than Russia. Cannily, Turkey managed to present a song that was unmistakably Turkish, while making the decision to perform in English - as Sertab herself has admitted, this was almost certainly a factor in securing its narrow victory. The elaborate and impressive dance routine didn't do any harm at all, either. As the previous year's winners, Turkey naturally found themselves qualified directly to the 2004 Final, where punk band Athena finished in an impressive 4th place with 195 points - on this run of form, maybe we can expect another Turkish victory sooner rather than later...
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This year's entry
Position in Semi Final draw: N/A
Position in Final draw: 6
What I said prior to the Semi Final:
"…or maybe not? Seemingly abandoning the recipe for its recent success (an established artist, selected internally, performing a song in English), Turkey has reverted to the old-fashioned formula for 2005, inviting submissions of songs and holding a national final. However, perhaps fearing it had made a mistake in giving responsibility to the viewers at home, TRT abandoned its plans to hold a televote and finally used a jury to select its winning entry - 'Rim rimi ley', performed in Turkish by female singer Gülseren.
The song itself is really rather lovely, kicking off with a nod to Ruslana (the obligatory "hey!"), before disappearing off all over the place during the verse, and then bursting into a jolly chorus. However, 'Rim rimi ley' certainly marks a return to a more traditional entry after the fresh and contemporary feel of Turkey's recent efforts, and nice though it is, it's hard not to see it as a backward step - at least in terms of its Europe-wide appeal - after Sertab and Athena. Turkey can be happy that it is directly qualified to this year's Final, but is it destined for the Semi Final in 2006?"
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What I predicted...
My prediction for Semi Final: N/A
My prediction for Final: 16th to 18th
What I predicted prior to the Semi Final:
"Gülseren has won some praise for her performance in rehearsals, and a significant rearrangement of the song has helped to give it what might be described as a more contemporary, 'Sertab-esque' sound. Nonetheless, odds of 50-1 do not bode well for Turkey's prospects, and while there is nothing to dislike about the song, nor does it necessarily have the special quality that will make people vote for it. Direct qualification for the 2006 Final is not out of the question, but a berth in the mid to low teens would be a reasonable result given the quality of the competition."
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What you thought...
Final Poll Ranking: out of 39 ()
(Updated 22 May 2005; change refers to movement over final week)
In the run up to the Contest, 27,998 visitors to this site voted for their favourite song in the Soult.com Eurovision Poll (up from 5,000 in 2004!)
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What actually happened...
If you like elaborate choreography, 2005 was certainly a good year to be a Eurovision fan. Gülseren and her posse gave what can only be described as a visually stunning and sensorially rich performance, though I can't help feeling that the whole thing rather came across as a dance show that happened to include some singing. Though Eurovision has changed in recent times, it remains a Song Contest, and I think it is important that any song is central to the overall performance, not incidental to it. Still, Turkey's 92 points (including 12 from both France and the Netherlands) and 13th place was no embarrassment, even if it represented a downturn in fortunes after a string of excellent results.
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What the bookies thought...
 | Turkey to win: | 21/05/05 (prior to Final) | 66-1 |
| | 19/05/05 (after Semi Final) | 66-1 |
| | 19/05/05 (prior to Semi Final) | 50-1 |
| | 16/05/05 | 50-1 |
| | 15/05/05 | 50-1 |
| | 08/05/05 | 50-1 |
| | 02/05/05 | 50-1 |
| | 24/04/05 | 50-1 |
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No-one expected much of the Turkish entry this year, with the bookies giving it lowly odds of 66-1. In the end, 13th place - though poor by recent Turkish standards - was perhaps better than many had predicted.
(Odds quoted here were those offered by Coral.co.uk. 'F' indicates favourite, 'JF' joint favourite.)
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Links
 http://www.gulseren.net/
 http://www.trt.net.tr/eurovision2005/
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Notes (see 'History' above)
- The 1956 Contest (where each country had two songs) is counted as a single appearance;
- Countries eliminated in the 1993 preliminary heat (EE, HU, RO, SK) ARE NOT counted as making an appearance in that year's Contest;
- Countries eliminated in the 1996 preliminary heat (DE, DK, HU, IL, MK, RO, RU) ARE NOT counted as making an appearance in that year's Contest;
- Countries eliminated in the 2004, 2005 and 2006 Semi Finals ARE counted as making an appearance in that year's Contest.
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Your comments (103)
From Sâ:sgöp, Estonia
Added 15:01:15 2007-05-13
oh my got! turkey ukraine that and better! böhhh! :(:(
From azalza, Turkey
Added 14:44:13 2007-05-03
Turkey is more beatiful sing a song than other country
From fgvfbhr, Cyprus
Added 18:00:16 2007-04-16
i am from cyprus and i love this song!!!!
x x x x x x x x x x x
From kiki, Greece
Added 21:57:36 2006-02-12
100.000.000 THANKS FOR THE 12 POINTS!!!!!!!!I really liked the turkey's song and i voted for it!In 2006 all of you people from Turkey, we, the Greeks we are all welcome you to Athens!!See you!
From Ej, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 0:13:55 2005-8-1
TRT, next year, please have an internal selection and get something brilliant and very famous to represent Turkey at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens.
The best singers are:
1. Tarkan.
2. Sezen Aksu.
3. Mustafa Sandal.
4. Gulben Ergen.
5. Hande Yener
6. Davut Gulloglu
7. Emrah
Any of the above artists could win for Turkey and perform wonderfully well. All they need is a fantastic song that will easily be the favourite and win.
I do hope that the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 will be in Turkey. They do deserve a 2nd win.
Please TRT! Take this very seriously for Turkey's sake.
From nikolas, GERMANY
Added 14:8:51 2005-7-1
I am deeply sorry for the fact that this year Greece di not give any point to Turkey. I can notunderstund this, since in the last years we always give points to Turkey, and there are a lot of Turkish people living in the North of Greece. Maybe they did not vote for this song thistime, because I know that Gülseren is not very popular to native turks. But I met her at Kiev, she was very nice, she made photos with us and the greek flags, and we supported her song in the rehearsals. I was shocked and a bit disappinted that she did not get any points from Greece...But do not worry, next year we will support the turkish entry in the semi finals very much. Welcome all to Athens next year, and sorry for the voting of this one.
From maruf, TURKEY
Added 13:5:10 2005-6-25
my favourites were Estonia,Greece,Spain and U.K. but only Greece was succesful and won.
gülseren was despised by some turkish tv channel before the contest.but the song is not very bad.turks gave 12 points to Greece because Helena used a small three-stringed violin,but she was succesful.
From selda , TURKEY
Added 13:22:36 2005-6-14
this was the most beautifull and best song i have heard on my live.gülseren i love you.you are the best and for ma greece is not the winner.its TURKEY.the song of greece was like that turkeys song that has won in 2003.TURKEY IS ALWAYS THE WINNWER:
From cy, CYPRUS
Added 20:39:55 2005-6-10
dont worry turkey. ı am sure that eurovision 2007 will be definitely in Turkey
From nasruddin, INDONESIA
Added 7:30:20 2005-6-3
This is good for me
From vasiliti , GREECE
Added 14:36:18 2005-6-2
my favoritte 2005 eurovision
1 point united kingdom
2 point ukraine
3 point f y r of Macedonia
4 point albania
5 point serbia and montenegro
6 point turkey
7 point hungary and moldova
8 point malta
10 point cyprus
12 point greece
From Noah, --
Added 0:27:32 2005-6-1
meeelika, don't say that, you are not right...
Turkey's dong was GREAT and deserved much higher position...Gulseren's voice is good, she sings in her language (and i love it), she was dessed in national cotumes...Bravo!!!
From Ej, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 17:19:55 2005-5-29
Next year, I want Turkey to send a fantastic song in English with strong ethnic music and an excellent performance. Its got to be one that everyone will love and vote for. Next year in the Turkish national finals, televoting MUST be allowed to enable the viewers at home to vote. No last minute cancellations please!!!
The song MUST be strong enough to qualify to the grand final next year then go onto win for the 2nd time.
TRT, please read this. Its very important. No more cock ups!
From Seher, BELGIUM
Added 14:14:17 2005-5-28
Turkey was not so good! Luzumsuz cigliklari omasa daha iyi olurdu bence
Greece and United Kingdom are the best!!
Greece is number one!!!
From Charlotte, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 18:46:4 2005-5-27
This song is not bad .. catchy tune and MORE DRUMS! please visit my eurovision website =) it is www.freewebs.com/xeurovisionx THANKYOU!! With love from England x
From dekas48, GREECE
Added 18:28:32 2005-5-25
l love turkish song too much theay are very good and their music is so good ... we gave them any point but they gave us 12 poinths but turkey had to be 4th one but ı hope turkey will be 2nd one in greece later greece
From Zehra, TURKEY
Added 10:41:52 2005-5-24
I really think that we could do better!
From meelika, TURKEY
Added 7:27:50 2005-5-23
hello! i can't say turkey was bad.. surely it was good .. the musis is quite different and ethnic. dance was awesome .. i didnt find the songs of latvia, denmark,norway better than ours.serbia&montenegro was so good too. i love their language and dance. yeah greece is really great!! hmm! i dont care u didnt give us any point. thats ok. Carry on greece!!
From Pili, SPAIN
Added 17:17:8 2005-5-22
Hello, i'm spanish but i love the Turkey's song of 2005. This is great. It would have to win!!
Kisses
From toMFord, TURKEY
Added 14:6:22 2005-5-22
Guys, we all know that our song was not good! I only liked Gulseren's make-up and dressing. That's all. But I don't think that this song didnt deserve 0 point on votings.(it could deserve at least 1pt let's say:))
Aah,by the way, I also want to say THANKS(!) Greece for 0 (zero) point to Turkey.
From EVA, GREECE
Added 13:53:49 2005-5-22
Thank you turkish voters for your 12 points to Greece, first time in the history of Eurovision song contest. You proved your maturity and your taste despites politics. I feel pity we didn't give you any points (although i voted for you last night). Not because we are neigbours, i hate political voting, but because i didn't find the songs of Moldavia or Latvia better than yours (were those songs a joke really? who is voting out there i dont know). We welcome you to Athens 2006. And a very friendly advice from someone who is watching eurovision song contest since 1971 (the year i was born:)) ). Dont send turkish lyrics again. They dont appeal to european ears well:). Keep the recipe of Sertab and Athena and the victory will come to you again sooner than you imagine.
From asli, TURKEY
Added 9:30:34 2005-5-22
Turkey, all i can say is SORT YOURSELVES OUT!!! Our music is amazing, better then any song on this contest, but why do you constantly put faward these nasty, tacky peoplle to do ESC? Eurovision is a key, into sharing our beautiful music, but it seems like all TURKEY WANTS TO DO IS MAKE A FOOL OUT OF US!!! well done to Helena, although i must say that it wasn't like she had any competition!!!!!!!!
From suheyla, AUSTRALIA
Added 4:11:57 2005-5-22
turkeys song was a major mistake
there singer was too
there act could of been better
From TURKISH SYMPATHISER, TURKEY
Added 22:29:13 2005-5-21
I fell a great sorrow for the people of Turkey.
This years entry is highly uninteresting to those outside the Turkish influence - was too traditional and generally a very disappointing performance. Granted that it was better than a majoirty of other countries, i agree with the view that it took a backward step.
If anybody involved with stopping the TRT televote (which would have maybe been influenced by people with decent music tastes) or the voting panel which most likely consisted of aged judges who were not in touch with winning potential - please pu your act together so that Turkey can have another taste of success
Thanks for listening and allowing me to post my comments... =)
From sevda, AUSTRALIA
Added 12:0:47 2005-5-21
When i first listened to the song i thought yah it won't make it to the final for 2006. However, watching the preview video it had an excellent enthusiam and rythm to it additional the light effects and the dance they perform is exciting.
i can't wait until eurovision night. Being an Australian i say "GO TURKEY!!!!"
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Turkey
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