Turkvision Song Contest Explained

Alt Name:	Türkvizyon Song Contest
Genre:	Song contest
Language:	Turkish & official language(s) of host country
Num Episodes:	4 contests
Runtime:	2 hours, 45 minutes (semi-final) 2 hours, 30 minutes (final)
Company:	TMB TV
Italic Title:	no

The Turkvision Song Contest (TSC, Turkish: Türkvizyon Şarkı Yarışması), also known as the Türkvizyon Song Contest, has been a recurring song contest created by Turkish music channel TMB TV, inspired by the format of the Eurovision Song Contest. The first edition took place in Eskişehir, Turkey in December 2013.^[1] Countries and regions which were Turkic-speaking and of Turkic ethnicity were eligible to participate in the song contest. The contest was last held on 20 December 2020 as an online event hosted from Istanbul, Turkey.^[2] Several cancellations followed, and the future of the Turkvision Song Contest now remains uncertain.

History

According to an October 2013 statement on the official website Turkvision.info: "Turkvision is a new contest inspired of Eurovision song contest. While Eurovision focuses in European countries, Turkvision is a contest whose participants are mainly from Turkish countries or Turkish spoken countries."^[3] Turkvision was actually a song contest which was created by TÜRKSOY in cooperation with the Turkish music channel TMB TV. The participating countries and regions had to take part in the Semi Final. A juror from each nation awarded between 1 and 10 points for every entry, except their own. An amount of 12 to 15 nations qualified for the Grand Final where the jury determined the winner. TÜRKSOY stated that televoting would be introduced in the future, but this never took place.

Hosting of the Turkvision Song Contest took place in the country or region that also hosted the Turkic Capital of Culture instead of the previous year's winning country.^[4]

In November 2020, the official Turkvision website posted that they hoped to stage the 2021 edition in Shusha, Azerbaijan.^[5] This was confirmed in December 2020 by İslam Bağırov, the contest's general coordinator, though it was later revealed that the 2021 edition would be taking place in Turkistan, Kazakhstan.^{[6] [7]} However, the 2021 contest did not materialize.

On 1 February 2022, the Uzbekistan Tourism Ambassador announced on Twitter that the 2022 contest would take place in the first week of June 2022 in Fergana, Uzbekistan.^[8] However, this did not materialize and TÜRKSOY stated that the contest will be moved to Bursa, Turkey and take place later in the year, but that didn't materialize either.^[9]

On 19 April 2024, Gunesh Abasova, Chairperson of the Turkvision 2020 jury and heavily involved in the contest since her participation in 2013, stated on social media that the contest is set to return in 2024. As part of a song release, she said that its music video would be premiered "at the large-scale competition Turkvision 2024".^[10]

Participation

Participants from Turkic-speaking and Turkic countries or regions were eligible to compete in the annual Turkvision Song Contests, such as Crimea, Karachay-Cherkessia, and Turkey.

Twenty-four countries and regions took part in the first edition of Turkvision. There were several unsuccessful attempts to participate in the Turkvision Song Contest. Chuvashia, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Xinjiang were one of the original twenty-four participating areas with initial intentions to competing at the 2013 Contest, but later withdrew for undisclosed reasons.^[11]

Russia's Omsk Oblast broadcast the 2014 contest, but they have never made any statement regarding participation.^[12] A delegation from another Russian federal subject, Kalmykia, attended the 2015 contest, but did not participate and have not made any subsequent statements regarding participation.^[13]

Table key

Country or region	Debut year	Latest entry	Entries	Wins	Broadcaster(s)
Albania	2014	2020	3	0	Radio Televizioni Shqiptar
Altai Republic	2013	2013	1	0
Azerbaijan	2013	2020	4	1	ATV Azerbaijan
Bashkortostan	2013	2020	3	0
Belarus	2013	2020	3	0	Belarusian Television and Radio Company
Bosnia and Herzegovina	2013	2020	4	0	Hayat TV
Bulgaria	2014	2015	2	0	Alfa Media
Crimea	2013	2014	2	0
Gagauzia	2013	2020	4	0
Georgia	2013	2015	3	0
Germany	2014	2020	3	0
Iran	2014	2015	2	0	Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
Iraq	2013	2015	3	0	Türkmeneli TV
Iraqi Turkmen	2020	2020	1	0
Kabardino-Balkaria	2013	2014	2	0	GTRK Kabardino-Balkaria TV
Karachay-Cherkessia	2013	2014	2	0	Arkhyz 24
Kazakhstan	2013	2020	4	1	Adam Media Group
Kazakh Uyghurs	2020	2020	1	0	N/A
Kemerovo	2013	2013	1	0	VGTRK
Khakassia	2013	2020	3	0	VGTRK
Kosovo	2013	2015	2	0	RTK Television
Kyrgyzstan	2013	2020	4	1	Piramida Television
Moldova	2020	2020	1	0	KTRK
Moscow	2014	2020	2	0	VGTRK
Nogai	2020	2020	1	0	Union of Nogai Youth
North Macedonia	2013	2020	4	0	MRT 2
Northern Cyprus	2013	2020	3	0	GENC Television
Poland	2020	2020	1	0	N/A
Romania	2013	2020	4	0	Alpha TV Media
Serbia	2015	2020	2	0	RTV Novi Pazar^[14]
Syria	2015	2015	1	0	ORTAS
Tatarstan	2013	2020	3	0	Maydan Television
Turkey	2013	2020	4	0	Kral TV
Turkmenistan	2014	2014	1	0	Altyn Asyr
Tuva	2013	2020	3	0	VGTRK
Tyumen Oblast	2020	2020	1	0	VGTRK
Ukraine	2013	2020	4	1	Kultura
Uzbekistan	2013	2015	3	0	MTRK
Yakutia	2013	2020	3	0	VGTRK

Other countries

The following countries and regions had confirmed participation at previous editions of the contest, but either withdrew prior to their debut or the contest was cancelled before they could:

• Austria.^{[15] [16]}
• Belgium.^[15]
• Chuvashia.^{[15] [17]}
• Dagestan.^[15] On 1 July 2016, it was confirmed that Dagestan would make their official Turkvision Song Contest début at the 2016 contest to be held in Turkey, however the contest was eventually canceled.^[18]
• Greece.^[16]
• Hungary.^[15]
• Kumyk.^[19] On 23 September 2015 it was confirmed that the Kumyks would make their official début at the 2015 contest to be held in Istanbul, Turkey.^[20] However, on 17 December it was announced that Kumyk would not debut at the contest due to the current state of international relations between the Russian Federation and Turkey. Despite this Kumyk did select Gulmira, Fatima and Kamilya with the song "Alğa!" to represent them in 2015. The Kumyks had selected Daniyal Harunow as their artist in 2016 before the contest's cancellation.^[21]
• Latvia.^{[15] [16] [22]} On 29 October 2016, it was announced that Latvia would be making their Turkvision debut at the 2016 edition, and had internally selected Oksana Bilera with the song "Yakışıyor bize bu sevgi".^[23] However, it was later confirmed that both of the 2016 contests had been cancelled due to the December 2016 Istanbul bombings.
• Netherlands.^[24] In October 2016, it was announced that the Netherlands would debut at the 2016 contest in Turkey, when the song "Ana – Vətən", performed by Elcan Rzayev, was announced as the country's entry.^[25] However, the 2016 contest was later cancelled. The Netherlands' participation in the 2020 contest was provisionally confirmed in November 2020, when "Ana – Vətən", performed by Elcan Rzayev, was again revealed as the Netherlands' entry for the contest.^[26] However, in December 2020, Rzayev withdrew from the contest due to COVID-19 restrictions in the Netherlands, leaving the country's participation in the contest in doubt.^[27]
• Russia
• Stavropol Krai.^{[15] [16]} On 23 September 2015 it was confirmed that Nogais would make their official Turkvision Song Contest début at the 2015 contest to be held in Istanbul, Turkey.^[28] But later on 23 November it was announced that they will be represented as Stavropol Krai. However, the contest was eventually canceled.
• Sweden. On 25 October 2016, it was announced that Sweden will debut at the 2016 contest in Turkey. The same day it was announced that Arghavan with the song "Dirçəliş" will fly the Swedish to Turkey.^[29] After initially opting to send their 2016 entry to the 2020 contest, the country eventually withdrew citing an inability to record a performance acceptable for the competition.^[30]
• Tajikistan.^{[15] [16]}
• Xinjiang. Xinjiang was to make their debut at the inaugural 2013 festival, in Eskişehir, Turkey, however it later opted to not partake.^{[15] [17]}

Winners

By year

Year	Date	Host city	Participants	Winner	Draw	Song	Performer	Points	Margin	Runner-up
2013	21 December	Eskişehir	24		9	"Yaşa"	Farid Hasanov	210	5
2014	21 November	Kazan	25		3	""	Zhanar Dugalova	225	24
2015	19 December	Istanbul	21		11	"Kim bilet"	Jiidesh İdirisova	194	9
2020	20 December	Istanbul	26		15	"Tikenli yol"	Natalie Papazoglu	226	22

By country/region

The table below shows the top-three placings from each contest, along with the years that a country won the contest.

Country				Total	Years won
	1	1	0	2	2014
	1	0	1	2	2020
	1	0	0	1	2013
	1	0	0	1	2015
	0	1	0	1
	0	1	0	1
	0	1	0	1
	0	0	1	1
	0	0	1	1
	0	0	1	1

By language

Wins	Language	Years	Country
1	Azerbaijani	2013
	Gagauz	2020
	Kazakh	2014
	Kyrgyz	2015

Hosting

Hosts	Country/Region	City	Years
3	Turkey	Eskişehir	2013
		Istanbul	2015
			2020
1	Tatarstan	Kazan	2014

Bala Turkvision Song Contest

The Bala Turkvision Song Contest was intended to be an annual children's version of the Turkvision Song Contest based on the format of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.^[31] Contestants had to be aged between 8 and 15 and had to perform in a Turkic language. Only one edition of the Bala Turkvision Song Contest took place, on 15 December 2015, and it included 13 countries and regions.^[32] It had been announced on 7 June 2015, that the inaugural Bala Turkvision Song Contest would be held in Mary, Turkmenistan,^[33] however, it was later decided that it would take place in Istanbul, Turkey, but it did not materialize and the contest disappeared without a trace.^[34] Eligible to participate were Turkic regions, which had either a large Turkic population or a widely spoken Turkic language. Participating countries and regions included Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Gagauzia, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey, and Ukraine.^{[35] [36]} Azerbaijan was the winner of the event with the song "Cocukluk Yillari" performed by Nuray Rahman and Ahmed Amirli.^[37]

Notes and references

References

Notes and References

1. Web site: When Will Turkvision Be Held, Turkvision Dates. turkvision.info. 16 November 2013. 15 October 2013. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20131125023153/http://www.turkvision.info/When-Will-Turkvision-Be-Held,-Turkvision-Dates-3-h.htm. 25 November 2013.
2. Web site: Turkvision Song Contest 2020 Officially Launched. 2020-10-17. 2020-11-13. Eurovoix World. Anthony. Granger.
3. Web site: What is Turkvision, How is the Format of Turkvision Song Contest. turkvision.info. 16 November 2013. 15 October 2013. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140125061953/http://www.turkvision.info/What-is-Turkvision-How-is-the-Format-of-Turkvision-Song-Contest-1-h.htm. 25 January 2014.
4. Web site: Where Will Turkvision Be Held, In Which Country Is Turkvision. turkvision.info. 16 November 2013. 15 October 2013. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160311020026/http://turkvision.info/where-will-turkvision-be-held%2C-in-which-country-is-turkvision-4-h.htm. 11 March 2016.
5. Web site: İNŞALLAH . Turkvizyon.tv . 17 November 2020 . 17 November 2020.
6. Web site: Türkvizyon Şarkı Yarışması Genel Koordinatörü İslam Bağırov Türkvizyon Hakkında Açıklamalarda Bulundu. tr. 2020-12-31. 2020-12-31. turkvizyon.tv.
7. Web site: 8 June 2021. Turkvision 2021 to be Held in Turkistan, Kazakhstan. 9 June 2021. Eurovoix World.
8. UZAmbassador. 1488519826440085506. In the 1st week of June it's Turkvision, the Turkic world's answer to #Eurovision! See the artists perform live in Fergana, or get some mates round for a Turkvision-themed party & watch it on TV. #WhatsOnInUzbekistan2022. Uzbekistan Tourism Ambassador. 1 February 2022.
9. Web site: Turkvision 2022 to be held in Bursa, Turkey . 19 April 2022 . 19 April 2022.
10. News: Granger . Anthony . 20 May 2024 . Turkvision Returning After Four Year Break? . live . 24 May 2024 . Eurovoix World.
11. Web site: Granger. Anthony. Participating Countries Revealed. Eurovoix. 25 October 2013. 19 October 2013.
12. Web site: Золотой голос тюркского народа выберут в прямом эфире 12 Канала. ru. GTRK Omsk. 2020-11-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20160423233156/http://gtrk-omsk.ru/news/158766/. 2016-04-23.
13. Web site: Granger. Anthony. Kalmykia: Turkvizyon Debut in 2015? . Eurovoix. 2015-02-08. 2020-11-19.
14. Web site: Serbia: Turkvision 2020 Participation Confirmed. 2020-12-02. 2020-12-02. Eurovoix World. Anthony. Granger.
15. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20180509221207/https://eurovoix-world.com/turkvision18-hungary-belgium-among-debuting-countries/. 2018-05-09. Turkvision'18: Hungary & Belgium Among Debuting Countries. 2018-05-09. 2020-11-15. Eurovoix World.
16. Web site: Turkvision Song Contest Returning as Online Competition?. 2020-10-06. 2020-11-15. Eurovoix World. Anthony. Granger.
17. Web site: Albania: Withdraw From Turkvizyon 2014?. 2014-11-11. 2020-11-15. Eurovoix. Anthony. Granger.
18. Web site: Granger. Anthony. Turkvizyon'16: Russian Republics Return To Turkvizyon. Eurovoix World. 1 July 2016. 18 August 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160818024616/http://eurovoix-world.com/turkvizyon16-russian-republics-return-to-turkvizyon/. dead.
19. Web site: Kumyks: Will Not Participate in Turkvision 2020. 2020-10-31. 2020-11-15. Eurovoix World. Anthony. Granger.
20. Web site: Granger. Anthony. Kumyk: Debut In Turkvizyon & Bala Turkvizyon. eurovoix-world.com. Eurovoix-world. 23 September 2015. 23 September 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151024045301/http://eurovoix-world.com/kumyk-debut-in-turkvizyon-bala-turkvizyon/. 24 October 2015. dead.
21. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20190325142326/https://eurovoix-world.com/kumyk-selects-daniyal-harunow-turkvision-song-contest-2016/. 2019-03-25. Kumyk: Selects Daniyal Harunow For Turkvision Song Contest 2016. 2016-12-01. 2016-11-16. Eurovoix World.
22. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20190325142230/https://eurovoix-world.com/latvia-oksana-bilera-to-turkvision-song-contest-2016/. 2019-03-25. Latvia: Oksana Bilera To Turkvision Song Contest 2016. 2016-10-29. 2020-11-15.
23. Web site: Granger. Anthony. Latvia: Oksana Bilera to Turkvision Song Contest 2016. eurovoix-world.com. Eurovoix. 29 October 2016. 29 October 2016. 29 October 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161029235525/https://eurovoix-world.com/latvia-oksana-bilera-to-turkvision-song-contest-2016/. dead.
24. Web site: Netherlands: Elcan Rzayev Withdraws From Turkvision 2020. 2020-12-06. 2020-12-06. Eurovoix World. Anthony. Granger.
25. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20190325142437/https://eurovoix-world.com/netherlands-debut-turkvizyon-song-contest-2016/. 2019-03-25. Netherlands: To Debut in Turkvision Song Contest 2016. 2016-10-26. 2020-11-10. Eurovoix World.
26. Web site: The Netherlands to Debut in the Turkvision Song Contest. 2020-11-10. 2020-11-10. Eurovoix World. Anthony. Granger.
27. Web site: Granger. Anthony. Netherlands: Elcan Rzayev Withdraws From Turkvision 2020. 2020-12-06. Eurovoix World. 2020-12-06.
28. Web site: Granger. Anthony. Nogai: Debut In Turkvizyon 2015. eurovoix-world.com. Eurovoix-world. 23 September 2015. 23 September 2015. 24 October 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151024041256/http://eurovoix-world.com/nogai-debut-in-turkvizyon-2015/. dead.
29. Web site: Granger. Anthony. Sweden: Debuts In The Turkvizyon Song Contest 2016. Eurovoix. 25 October 2016. 25 October 2016. 25 October 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161025235446/https://eurovoix-world.com/sweden-debuts-turkvizyon-song-contest-2016/. dead.
30. Web site: Sweden Withdraws From Turkvision 2020. 2020-12-12. 2020-12-13. Eurovoix World. Anthony. Granger.
31. Web site: Bala Turkvizyon: Childrens Turkvizyon Song Contest Launched. Eurovoix. 27 May 2015 .
32. Web site: Granger. Anthony. Bala Turkvizyon'15: Final On December 15. eurovoix-world.com. Eurovoix-world. 27 October 2015. 27 October 2015. 28 October 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151028072428/http://eurovoix-world.com/bala-turkvizyon15-final-on-december-15/. dead.
33. Web site: Granger. Anthony. Turkvizyon'15: Contest back In Mary, Turkmenistan?. eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. 8 June 2015. 7 June 2015.
34. Web site: Granger. Anthony. Turkvizyon'15: 26 Countries To Compete In December. Eurovoix-World.com. 25 October 2015.
35. Web site: Granger. Anthony. Bala Turkvizyon: Childrens Turkvizyon Song Contest Launched. eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. 28 May 2015. 28 May 2015.
36. Web site: Granger. Anthony. Bala Turkvizyon 15: Show now broadcast, details fully revealed. eurovoix-world.com. Eurovoix-world. 20 December 2015. 20 December 2015. 30 March 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190330205357/http://eurovoix-world.com/bala-turkvizyon15-show-now-broadcast-details-fully-revealed/. dead.
37. Web site: Türk Dünyasinin İlk Çocuk Şarki Yarişmasi Bala Türkvizyon Birincisi Bu Sene Azerbaycan Oldu! - Türkvizyon Şarkı Yarışması. TMB TV. 16 December 2015. 13 January 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160113083327/http://turkvizyon.tv/haberler/turk-dunyasinin-ilk-cocuk-sarki-yarismasi-bala-turkvizyon-birincisi-bu-sene-azerbaycan-oldu%26172.html. 13 January 2016. dead.