#BIRTHDAY: Kenan Doğulu from Türkiye is 49 today

Let’s be honest – our friends in Türkiye/Turkey are sorely missed from our favourite TV show. They added that bit of exotica to proceedings, and were gunning for another win when they abruptly stopped coming along after the 2012 shows.

Over the years, things weren’t good until 2003 when they only went and won. After that, there was one no-show in the Grand Final but top 10 finishes were generally the norm. In 2007, today’s birthday boy Kenan Cihan Doğulu donned a bright red ringmaster’s jacket, as if he were in a circus. Eurovision? Circus? Surely not. Anyway, his vivacious performance got him a fourth place in the Grand Final in Helsinki. He got five maxima, all from ‘Old Europe’ countries in north-west Europe. It must have been the exotica they craved.

Authors: Riigi Ametnik, John Stanton

Source: OnEurope