| Year: | 1988 |
| Country: | Turkey |
| Preselection: | 12. Eurovision Şarkı Yarışması Türkiye Finali |
| Preselection Date: | 13 February 1988 |
| Entrant: | MFÖ |
| Song: | Sufi |
| Final Result: | 15th, 37 points |
Turkey was represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 1988 by a music trio named Mazhar Fuat Özkan (names of the members) with the song "Sufi", written and composed by the trio.
The national final featured songs written by seventeen composers directly invited by TRT. However, Attila Özdemiroğlu, one of the invited composers, did not submit a song for unknown reasons.
The final took place on 13 February 1988 at the TRT Studios in Ankara, hosted by Canan Kumbasar. Sixteen songs competed and the winner was determined by an expert jury. As there was a tie at the end of the voting, the head of the jury selected "Sufi" performed by MFÖ as the winner.[1] [2]
| Draw | Artist | Song | Lyricist | Composer | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kayahan & 3. Nesil (İskender Paydaş, Volkan Başaran, Meltem Parlak, Murat Çimenli, Fergan Mirkelam) | "Sokak Kedisi" | Kayahan Açar | Kayahan Açar | — | |
| 2 | Grup Gündoğarken | "Resimler Resimler" | İlhan Şeşen | İlhan Şeşen | — | |
| 3 | MFÖ | "Sufi" | Mazhar Alanson | Mazhar Alanson, Fuat Güner, Özkan Uğur | 1 | |
| 4 | Sevingül Bahadır | "Bulutlar" | Meltem Bal | Aslıgül Kırıcı | — | |
| 5 | Grup Tema (Arzu Ece, Çiğdem Tunç, Emre Tukur, Aydın Karabulut, Murat Kulaksızoğlu, Taylan Dedeoğlu) | "Zig Zag" | Mazhar Alanson | Selçuk Başar | — | |
| 6 | Grup Vizyon (Rüya Ersavcı, Zeynep Draman, Hasan Alptekin, Tayfun Duyguluer) | "Diskotek" | İlhan İrem | Esin Engin | — | |
| 7 | Grup 88 (Adnan Ergil, Batuhan Şenyücel, Şaziye Onuray, Yonca Evcimik) | "Fazla Vaktim Yok" | Nezih Topuzlu | Selmi Andak | — | |
| 8 | Aysun Kocatepe | "Bir Dolu Yaz" | Ali Kocatepe | Ali Kocatepe | — | |
| 9 | Cantekin | "Kim?" | Zeynep Sayan | Erol Sayan | — | |
| 10 | Grup Piramit (Hakan Girit, Cem Bezeyiş, Feyyaz Kuruş, Okan Tolga Mertel, Ayhan Sayıner) | "Sana Bağlamıştım" | Grup Piramit | Grup Piramit | — | |
| 11 | Grup Denk (Oya Küçümen, Bora Ebeoğlu) | "Onikiden" | Bora Ebeoğlu | Turhan Yükseler | 2 | |
| 12 | Grup Efekt (Cihan Okan, Seden Kutlubay, Elif İnce, Gülgün Yıldız, Reyhan Soykarcı, Adalet Güzey) | "Camdan Bir Ev" | Zeynep Talu | Melih Kibar | — | |
| 13 | Ultraviyole (İlhan İrem, Gür Akad, Selim Sayarı, Elif Turhan, Murat Tümer, Refia Çetintürk) | "Yurtta Barış Dünyada Barış" | İlhan İrem | İlhan İrem | — | |
| 14 | Zafer Olcay | "Barış ve Sevgi Dolu" | Adnan Ergil | Buğra Uğur | — | |
| 15 | Emel Müftüoğlu & Erdal Çelik | "Aşk Yaşamaya Değer" | Emel Müftüoğlu, Erdal Çelik | Uğur Başar | — | |
| 16 | Fatih Erkoç | "Bitmesin Bu Sonbahar" | Cansın Erol | Selahattin İçli | — |
On the night of the contest Mahzar Fuat Özkan performed fifth, after the United Kingdom and before the Netherlands. At the close of the voting Sufi had received 37 points, placing Turkey fifteenth.[3] 8 participants had voted for Sufi. In the 1985 contest Turkey had received 37 points from 8 countries. Atilla Şereftuğ, the composer of the winner ("Ne partez pas sans moi" by Celine Dion) was a Turk living in Switzerland. The Turkish jury awarded its 12 points to the United Kingdom.[4]