June 19, 2021

Turkey: TRT director talks with EBU

İbrahim Eren, director of the Turkish broadcaster TRT, talks with the EBU about Eurovision. Mr. Eren confirms this news in the Turkish newspaper Miliyet. Turkey wanted to withdraw already after the contest of 2011, when they did not reach the final. They only participated in 2012 because the contest was held in Azerbaijan, a country Turkey has strong bounds with. The reason of their withdrawal was the expert jury. The former jury system, with 100% televoting, was quite positive for Turkey. As many people with Turkish roots automatically voted for Turkey every year, the country got the 12 points from several Western European countries year by year. The new 50/50 system made an end to it. In 2015, Turkey added another reason when Austrian Conchita Wurst won the contest. ““As a public broadcaster, we also cannot broadcast live at 9 p.m. — when children are still awake — someone like the bearded Austrian who wore a skirt, do not believe in genders and says that he is both a man and a woman.”, mister İbrahim Eren stated back then. But now that does not seem to count anymore. Mr. Eren stated that the 2021 contest was a wonderful show. He is now in talk with mr. Marcus Österdahl, the new executive producer of the contest. Whether it’s going to lead to a renewed Turkish participation or not, is of course not known yet. But we keep you updated. Can Bonomo, the last Turkish representant so far in 2012.

UEFA2020: Day 9

And the European soccer Championship continues with day 9. We start with Hungary and France. Hungary, the country where the authorities consider LGBT+ as a crime. Well, Hungary, remember who and what you sent in 2009? Watch Zoli Ádok and his “Dance with me”. And we have France. We have Bilal Hassani’s “Roi” here. No explanation needed. The second match is between Portugal and Germany. In 1988, the Portuguese singer Dora sang “Voltarei”, which means “I’ll come back”. In 2000, the German singer Stefan Raab opened his entry “Wadde hadde dudde da” with “He’s been to America and said: if I make it there I’m never gonna make it to Germany again. And tonight, here he is, back again”. Spain will meet Poland today. And although Spain won twice, there are a lot of successful second places for the country. We chose for Anabel Conde’s “Vuelve conmigo” from 1995. One year before that, Poland debuted, also with a second place. Poland has never done better so far, so watch and listen Edyta Gorniak’s “To nie ja!”.