TRT and EBU Meet to Discuss ESC. Photograph Courtesy of TRT

It is no news that Turkey will not be participating at Eurovision 2014. We have all read that story for several months now. The real story that we have waited to hear is the outcome of the meeting between the EBU and TRT that was scheduled to take place in Istanbul. 

TRT and the EBU have met in Istanbul and the outcomes of their meeting are beginning to surface.The Head of TRT Mr. İbrahim Şahin held a meeting with The Head of the  EBU, Mr. Jean-Paul Philippot in Istanbul.

Mr. İbrahim Şahin released a statement claiming that they will not be returning to Eurovision in 2014 and that they had concerns that they were not consulted when changes were being made to the voting system for 2014

“Although we were having good results at the contest, we previously signaled that we’re not coming back in 2014 like in 2013; as previous system (voting) changes weren’t asked for our votes. Apart from these issues, we were not taken into the elections for the board of management – though we are one of the strongest members in EBU. Today Mr. Philippot told us their apologies about both situations.”

There does seem to be more progress made between the EBU and TRT as Mr. İbrahim Şahin later went on to say in another statement that the ties between the EBU and TRT have now been strengthened

“From now on both TRT and EBU will take more initiative about our releations…as EBU showed us their enthusiasm today. There are more than 300 international employees in the EBU and only one of them is Turkish. We are one of the bigger countries in the union so EBU will have less issues like these (participation in the contest, elections and etc) if there are more Turkish employee to contact us in the future”.

TRT are looking for a proportionate say in the EBU/Eurovision going forward. It does leave the door open for a return to Eurovision in 2015, if the EBU and TRT can agree on the above two issues. One will also have to look at how successful Türkvizyon 2013 will be. That is scheduled to take place on December 19th and 21st.

Do you think that TRT should be given a bigger say in the EBU and Eurovision Board of Management? Can you see Turkey returning to Eurovision 2015 if their original concerns on the Voting Procedures are not fully amended?

Author/Website co-founder and Editor in Chief Garrett Mulhall

Source : Eurovisionary and Eurovision Ireland