Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997

Eurovision Song Contest 1997
Eurovision Song Contest 1997
Country	Turkey
National selection
Selection process	20. Eurovision Şarkı Yarışması Türkiye Finali
Selection date(s)	1 March 1997
Selected entrant	Şebnem Paker
Selected song	"Dinle"
Selected songwriter(s)	Levent Çoker; Mehtap Alnıtemiz;
Finals performance
Final result	3rd, 121 points
Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest

Turkey took part in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997. The country was represented by Şebnem Paker and Grup Etnic with the song "Dinle" written by Mehtap Altıntemiz and composed by Levent Çoker. Both Şebnem Paker and Levent Çoker had represented Turkey in the contest of the preceding year.

Before Eurovision

20. Eurovision Şarkı Yarışması Türkiye Finali

The final took place on 1 March 1997 at the TRT Studios in Ankara, hosted by Bülent Özveren and Meltem Ersan. Ten songs competed, and the winner was determined by an expert jury. Songs #1, 3, 4, 5 and 8 were performed by the use of backing tracks; however, they were still backed by the orchestra with their respective conductors. Songs #6, 9 and 10 were played live, while songs #2 and 7 used full playback. Ümit Eroğlu was the chief conductor in this preselection. His orchestra consisted of 49 musicians.^[1] ^[2]

Final – 1 March 1997
Draw	Artist	Song	Lyricist	Composer	Conductor	Points	Place
1	Burcu Güneş	"Gece"	Günay Çoban	Müfit Bayraşa	Ümit Eroğlu	0	7
2	Serdar Aydemir	"Aşkıma İnan"	Hakan Süersan	Hakan Süersan	n/a	0	7
3	Şebnem Özsaran	"Dördüncü Boyut"	Semih Güneri	Semih Güneri	Semih Güneri	1	3
4	Şebnem Paker & Group Ethnic (Ahmet Koç, Ali Koç, Ercan Irmak, Eylem Pelit, Süleyman Alnıtemiz)	"Dinle"	Mehtap Alnıtemiz	Levent Çoker	Levent Çoker	10	1
5	Sevan Deniz	"Hiç Gitme"	Sevan Deniz	Sevan Deniz	Güneş Apaydın	0	7
6	Tüzmen & Elçin Engin	"Şarkı"	Hale Turan	Şansal Engin	Ümit Eroğlu	0	7
7	Tuba Önal	"Sevda Bu Dostun"	Selma Çuhacı	Müfit Bayraşa	n/a	0	7
8	Erdal Çelik	"Seninle"	Erdal Çelik	Erdal Çelik	Mete Aydın Çelik	0	7
9	Pınar Ayhan & Grup S.O.S. (Sühan Ayhan, Orkun Yazgan, Selim Öncel)	"Sen Nerede Ben Orada"	Selma Çuhacı	Erdinç Tunç	Ümit Eroğlu	3	2
10	Ece Sandallı	"Sevda"	Çetin Akcan	Ece Sandallı	Serdar Kalafatoğlu	0	7

At Eurovision

Heading into the final of the contest, RTÉ reported that bookmakers ranked the entry 25th (last) out of the 25 entries.^[3] On the night of the contest Şebnem performed 2nd in the running order, following Cyprus and preceding Norway. At the close of the voting, Dinle had received 121 points placing Turkey 3rd.^[4] This was the best result Turkey had ever reached at the contest up to that time, and will remain so until their victory in 2003. 18 participants voted for Dinle. The Turkish jury awarded its 12 points to Malta.^[5]

Voting

Points awarded to Turkey^[6]
Score	Country
12 points	Bosnia and Herzegovina Germany Spain
10 points	Malta
8 points
7 points	Austria Greece Iceland Italy
6 points	Estonia France Hungary Sweden Switzerland
5 points	Portugal
4 points	Russia United Kingdom
3 points
2 points	Ireland Netherlands
1 point

Points awarded by Turkey^[6]
Score	Country
12 points	Malta
10 points	Slovenia
8 points	Bosnia and Herzegovina
7 points	United Kingdom
6 points	Ireland
5 points	Italy
4 points	Spain
3 points	Hungary
2 points	France
1 point	Netherlands

References

^ "TURKISH NATIONAL FINAL 1997".
^ "Turkey: Şarkı Yarışması 1997 Final".
^ "What are the Odds?". Radio Telefís Éireann. Archived from the original on 24 February 1999. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
^ "Final of Dublin 1997". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
^ Michael Kuyucu: Türkiye'nin Serüveni Eurovision, İstanbul, 2005, ISBN 975-8823-93-0, pp.222-229
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b "Results of the Final of Dublin 1997". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.

[1] "TURKISH NATIONAL FINAL 1997".

[2] "Turkey: Şarkı Yarışması 1997 Final".

[3] "What are the Odds?". Radio Telefís Éireann. Archived from the original on 24 February 1999. Retrieved 20 November 2022.

[4] "Final of Dublin 1997". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.

[5] Michael Kuyucu: Türkiye'nin Serüveni Eurovision, İstanbul, 2005, ISBN 975-8823-93-0, pp.222-229

[1997detailed-6] Jump up to: ^a ^b "Results of the Final of Dublin 1997". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

v t e Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest
Participation	1975 1978 ~~1979~~ 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Artists	~~21. Peron~~ Çetin Alp Athena Pınar Ayhan Burak Aydos Ayşegül Buket Bengisu and Group Safir Beş Yıl Önce, On Yıl Sonra Can Bonomo İzel Çeliköz Kenan Doğulu Arzu Ece Sertab Erener ~~Maria Rita Epik~~ Grup Etnik Gülseren Hadise Reyhan Karaca Kayahan Klips ve Onlar Lokomotif Manga MFÖ Grup Mistik Modern Folk Trio Mor ve Ötesi Nazar Neco Nilüfer Tuba Önal Şebnem Paker Pan Ajda Pekkan The Short Waves The S.O.S. Seyyal Taner Tüzmen Sibel Tüzün Can Uğurluer Aylin Vatankoş Semiha Yankı Sedat Yüce Yüksek Sadakat
Songs	"Bana Bana" "Beşinci Mevsim" "Deli" "Didai Didai Dai" "Dinle" "Dön Artık" "Dönme Dolap" "Düm Tek Tek" "Esmer Yarim" "Everyway That I Can" "For Real" "Gözlerinin Hapsindeyim" "Halay" "Halley" "Hani?" "İki Dakika" "Leylaklar Soldu Kalbinde" "Live It Up" "Love Me Back" "Opera" "Pet'r Oil" "Rimi Rimi Ley" "Şarkım Sevgi Üstüne" "Seninle Bir Dakika" "Sev" "Sevgiliye Son" "Sevince" ~~"Seviyorum"~~ "Shake It Up Şekerim" "Sufi" "Süper Star" "Unutamazsın" "We Could Be the Same" "Yaz Bitti" "Yorgunum Anla"
Note: Entries scored out signify where Turkey did not compete

v t e Eurovision Song Contest 1997
Countries	Austria Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Cyprus Denmark Estonia France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Malta Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Russia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom
Artists	Barbara Berta Blond Alma Čardžić Tor Endresen E.N.I Fanny Jalisse Anna Maria Jopek Katrina and the Waves Kølig Kaj Hara and Andreas Konstantinou Célia Lawson Maarja Marcos Llunas Mrs. Einstein Paul Oscar Şebnem Paker and Grup Ethnic Alla Pugacheva Tanja Ribič Marc Roberts Debbie Scerri Bianca Shomburg Bettina Soriat V.I.P. Marianna Zorba
Songs	"Ale jestem" "Antes do adeus" "Bara hon älskar mig" "Dentro di me" "Dinle" "Fiumi di parole" "Goodbye" "Horepse" "Keelatud maa" "Let Me Fly" "Love Shine a Light" "Mana mou" "Miért kell, hogy elmenj?" "Minn hinsti dans" "Mysterious Woman" "Niemand heeft nog tijd" "One Step" "Primadonna" "Probudi me" "San Francisco" "Sentiments songes" "Sin rencor" "Stemmen i mit liv" "Zbudi se" "Zeit"