| Year: | 1981 |
| Country: | Turkey |
| Preselection: | 5. Eurovision Şarkı Yarışması Türkiye Finali |
| Preselection Date: | 14 February 1981 |
| Entrant: | Modern Folk Trio and Ayşegül |
| Song: | Dönme Dolap |
| Final Result: | 18th, 9 points |
Turkey took part in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981. The country was represented by Ayşegül Aldinç and a trio named Modern Folk Üçlüsü with the song "Dönme Dolap" written and composed by Ali Kocatepe.
The final took place on 14 February 1981 at the TRT Studios in Ankara, hosted by Bülend Özveren. Six songs competed and the winner was determined by a jury consisting of members of the public.[1] [2]
| Draw | Artist | Song | Lyricist | Composer | Points | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kayahan | "Dostluk" | Leyla Seber | Aydın Esen | — | 6 | |
| 2 | İbo & Grup Vize (Rüya Ersavcı, Hülya Çetiner, Esra Çetiner, Gülden Caner, Olcayto Ahmet Tuğsuz) | "Nerede O Eski Tangolar?" | Olcayto Ahmet Tuğsuz | Olcayto Ahmet Tuğsuz | — | 5 | |
| 3 | Ayşegül Aldinç & Modern Folk Üçlüsü | "İstanbul İstanbul" | Ülkü Aker | Cenk Taşkan | — | 3 | |
| 4 | Coşkun Demir | "Miras" | Ali Kocatepe | Ali Kocatepe | — | 4 | |
| 5 | Füsun Önal | "Bigudi" | Ayşe Irmak Manioğlu | Selçuk Başar | 60 | 2 | |
| 6 | Ayşegül Aldinç & Modern Folk Üçlüsü | "Dönme Dolap" | Ali Kocatepe | Ali Kocatepe | 87 | 1 |
On the night of the contest Ayşegül Aldinç and Modern Folk Üçlüsü performed second in the running order following Austria and preceding Germany. At the close of the voting the song received 9 points, thus Dönme Dolap shared 18th place with Portugal.[3] Turkish jury awarded 12 points to Germany.[4]
Members of the Turkish jury included Süheyla Aldoğan, Hidayet Yarken, Hatice Akbaş, Lüftiye Duman, Nebiye Yazıcı, Nesrin Demirel, Sami Ersoy, Mehmet Kuteş, Mustafa Ekinci, Cengiz Doğan, and Ali Arslan.[5]