Turkvision Song Contest

For the most recent contest, see Turkvision Song Contest 2020.

Not to be confused with the Turkish-only music festival Türkçevizyon.

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.^[3]

Turkvision Song Contest
Also known as	Türkvizyon Song Contest
Genre	Song contest
Created by	TÜRKSOY TMB TV
Original language	Turkish & official language(s) of host country
No. of episodes	4 contests
Production
Running time	2 hours, 45 minutes (semi-final) 2 hours, 30 minutes (final)
Production company	TMB TV
Original release
Release	19 December 2013 (2013-12-19) – 20 December 2020 (2020-12-20)
Related
Eurovision Song Contest Intervision Song Contest

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."^[4] Turkvision was actually a song contest which was created by TÜRKSOY in cooperation with the Turkish music channel TMB TV.^{[citation needed]} The participating countries and regions had to take part in the Semi Final.^{[citation needed]} A juror from each nation awarded between 1 and 10 points for every entry, except their own.^{[citation needed]} An amount of 12 to 15 nations qualified for the Grand Final where the jury determined the winner.^{[citation needed]} TÜRKSOY stated that televoting would be introduced in the future, but this never took place.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[5]

In November 2020, the official Turkvision website posted that they hoped to stage the 2021 edition in Shusha, Azerbaijan.^[6] 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.^[7][8] 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.^[9] 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.^[3]

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

Participation since 2013:

  Entered at least once

  Entered at least once, but only in a combined entry

  Never entered, although eligible to do so

  Entry intended but later withdrew

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.^{[citation needed]}

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

  Inactive – Countries or regions which have participated in the past, but did not participate in the most recent contest or will not participate in the upcoming contest.

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	STRC Altai Mountains [ru]
Azerbaijan	2013	2020	4	1	ATV Azerbaijan
Bashkortostan	2013	2020	3	0	STRC Bashkortostan [ru]
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[a]
Crimea	2013	2014	2	0	Crimea Public Radio and Television [ru]
Gagauzia	2013	2020	4	0	Gagauziya Radio Televizionu [gag]
Georgia	2013	2015	3	0	Kvemio Kartlia Television (2013) Marneuli Television (2014-2015)
Germany	2014	2020	3	0	Türkshow Televizyonu [tr]
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[d]	2013	2014	2	0	GTRK Kabardino-Balkaria TV
Karachay-Cherkessia[d]	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.^[c][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.^[c][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	Azerbaijan	9	"Yaşa"	Farid Hasanov	210	5	Belarus
2014	21 November	Kazan	25	Kazakhstan	3	"Izin kórem [no]" (Ізін көрем)	Zhanar Dugalova	225	24	Tatarstan
2015	19 December	Istanbul	21	Kyrgyzstan	11	"Kim bilet" (Ким билет)	Jiidesh İdirisova	194	9	Kazakhstan
2020	20 December	Istanbul	26	Ukraine	15	"Tikenli yol"	Natalie Papazoglu	226	22	Yakutia

By country/region

Map showing winners since 2013.

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
Kazakhstan	1	1	0	2	2014
Ukraine	1	0	1	2	2020
Azerbaijan	1	0	0	1	2013
Kyrgyzstan	1	0	0	1	2015
Belarus	0	1	0	1	—
Tatarstan	0	1	0	1	—
Yakutia	0	1	0	1	—
Bashkortostan	0	0	1	1	—
Bosnia and Herzegovina	0	0	1	1	—
Turkey	0	0	1	1	—

By language

Wins	Language	Years	Country
1	Azerbaijani	2013	Azerbaijan
	Gagauz	2020	Ukraine
	Kazakh	2014	Kazakhstan
	Kyrgyz	2015	Kyrgyzstan

Hosting

TatNeft Arena in Kazan hosted the 2014 Contest.

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

Footnotes

1. ^{^} Broadcast the 2013 final live on the local channel Bengu Turk for Bulgarian Turks.
2. ^{^} These countries were on the preliminary participation list for 2013 contest but later withdrew prior to the finalised list of participating regions, for unknown reasons.^[11]
3. ^{^} These countries were on the preliminary participation list for 2015 contest but were later forced to withdraw due to the Ministry of Culture banning Russian regions from the TURKSOY organisation.^[38]
4. ^{^} Participated since 2013 contest under the joint-regional name of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia.

References

1. "When Will Turkvision Be Held, Turkvision Dates". turkvision.info. 15 October 2013. Archived from the original on 25 November 2013. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
2. Granger, Anthony (17 October 2020). "Turkvision Song Contest 2020 Officially Launched". Eurovoix World. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
3. "Turkvision 2022 to be held in Bursa, Turkey". 19 April 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
4. "What is Turkvision, How is the Format of Turkvision Song Contest". turkvision.info. 15 October 2013. Archived from the original on 25 January 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
5. "Where Will Turkvision Be Held, In Which Country Is Turkvision". turkvision.info. 15 October 2013. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
6. "İNŞALLAH". Turkvizyon.tv. 17 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
7. "Türkvizyon Şarkı Yarışması Genel Koordinatörü İslam Bağırov Türkvizyon Hakkında Açıklamalarda Bulundu". turkvizyon.tv (in Turkish). 31 December 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
8. "Turkvision 2021 to be Held in Turkistan, Kazakhstan". Eurovoix World. 8 June 2021. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
9. Uzbekistan Tourism Ambassador [@UZAmbassador] (1 February 2022). "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" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
10. Granger, Anthony (20 May 2024). "Turkvision Returning After Four Year Break?". Eurovoix World. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
11. Granger, Anthony (19 October 2013). "Participating Countries Revealed". Eurovoix. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
12. "Золотой голос тюркского народа выберут в прямом эфире 12 Канала". GTRK Omsk (in Russian). Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
13. Granger, Anthony (8 February 2015). "Kalmykia: Turkvizyon Debut in 2015?". Eurovoix. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
14. Granger, Anthony (2 December 2020). "Serbia: Turkvision 2020 Participation Confirmed". Eurovoix World. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
15. "Turkvision'18: Hungary & Belgium Among Debuting Countries". Eurovoix World. 9 May 2018. Archived from the original on 9 May 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
16. Granger, Anthony (6 October 2020). "Turkvision Song Contest Returning as Online Competition?". Eurovoix World. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
17. Granger, Anthony (11 November 2014). "Albania: Withdraw From Turkvizyon 2014?". Eurovoix. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
18. Granger, Anthony. "Turkvizyon'16: Russian Republics Return To Turkvizyon". Eurovoix World. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
19. Granger, Anthony (31 October 2020). "Kumyks: Will Not Participate in Turkvision 2020". Eurovoix World. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
20. Granger, Anthony (23 September 2015). "Kumyk: Debut In Turkvizyon & Bala Turkvizyon". eurovoix-world.com. Eurovoix-world. Archived from the original on 24 October 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
21. "Kumyk: Selects Daniyal Harunow For Turkvision Song Contest 2016". Eurovoix World. 1 December 2016. Archived from the original on 25 March 2019. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
22. "Latvia: Oksana Bilera To Turkvision Song Contest 2016". 29 October 2016. Archived from the original on 25 March 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
23. Granger, Anthony (29 October 2016). "Latvia: Oksana Bilera to Turkvision Song Contest 2016". eurovoix-world.com. Eurovoix. Archived from the original on 29 October 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
24. Granger, Anthony (6 December 2020). "Netherlands: Elcan Rzayev Withdraws From Turkvision 2020". Eurovoix World. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
25. "Netherlands: To Debut in Turkvision Song Contest 2016". Eurovoix World. 26 October 2016. Archived from the original on 25 March 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
26. Granger, Anthony (10 November 2020). "The Netherlands to Debut in the Turkvision Song Contest". Eurovoix World. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
27. Granger, Anthony (6 December 2020). "Netherlands: Elcan Rzayev Withdraws From Turkvision 2020". Eurovoix World. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
28. Granger, Anthony (23 September 2015). "Nogai: Debut In Turkvizyon 2015". eurovoix-world.com. Eurovoix-world. Archived from the original on 24 October 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
29. Granger, Anthony (25 October 2016). "Sweden: Debuts In The Turkvizyon Song Contest 2016". Eurovoix. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
30. Granger, Anthony (12 December 2020). "Sweden Withdraws From Turkvision 2020". Eurovoix World. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
31. "Bala Turkvizyon: Childrens Turkvizyon Song Contest Launched". Eurovoix. 27 May 2015.
32. Granger, Anthony (27 October 2015). "Bala Turkvizyon'15: Final On December 15". eurovoix-world.com. Eurovoix-world. Archived from the original on 28 October 2015. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
33. Granger, Anthony (7 June 2015). "Turkvizyon'15: Contest back In Mary, Turkmenistan?". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
34. Granger, Anthony. "Turkvizyon'15: 26 Countries To Compete In December". Eurovoix-World.com. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
35. Granger, Anthony (28 May 2015). "Bala Turkvizyon: Childrens Turkvizyon Song Contest Launched". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
36. Granger, Anthony (20 December 2015). "Bala Turkvizyon 15: Show now broadcast, details fully revealed". eurovoix-world.com. Eurovoix-world. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
37. "Türk Dünyasinin İlk Çocuk Şarki Yarişmasi Bala Türkvizyon Birincisi Bu Sene Azerbaycan Oldu! - Türkvizyon Şarkı Yarışması". TMB TV. 16 December 2015. Archived from the original on 13 January 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
38. Granger, Anthony (7 December 2015). "Turkvizyon 15: all Russian regions withdraw from the contest". eurovoix-world.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 20 December 2015.

External links

Media related to Türkvision Song Contest at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website (in Turkish)