Country Turkey Selected entrant Hadise | Selection process Internal Selection Selected song "Düm Tek Tek" | |
Selection date(s) Artist: October 2008
Song: 1 January 2009 Semi-final result Qualified (2nd, 172 points) | ||
Turkey will be represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 by the song "Düm Tek Tek" performed by Hadise. The Turkish broadcaster Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu (TRT), chose Belgian-Turk Hadise in October 2008 and she prepared three songs which she submitted to TRT. "Düm Tek Tek" was chosen and was sung at the 2009 Contest.
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Selection process
TRT announced an open call for ideas for Turkey's representative for 2009. Instead of choosing the act solely through an internal process, the people of Turkey could submit their ideas about who should represent them in Moscow. After weeks of public input, it was revealed that either Hadise or Şebnem Ferah would be representing Turkey. TRT stated that it was considering Ferah as it thought her rock music would be better in the competition, but it also felt that Hadise was a likeable artist and would appeal to the European countries.
In late October it was announced that Hadise had been chosen by TRT to represent Turkey in the 2009 contest in Moscow. It has been revealed that she will have total control of the entry for the contest, choosing the lyricist, composer, arranger and language of the song. Hadise has revealed that she will be personally working on the lyrics, as well as possibly collaborating with songwriters in Belgium. She will be spending a lot of time flying between Belgium and Turkey as she prepares for Eurovision, as well as hosting the Belgian version of the talent show 'The X Factor'.
Hadise presented three songs to TRT, who then selected the final song. The selection was revealed live during a New Year's Eve special on TRT. As such, Turkey was one of the first countries in Eurovision to have had its song and performer selected, and only the second to do so before the end of 2008 (after Albania).
At Eurovision
Turkey had compete in one of the two semi-finals after Mor ve Ötesi came 7th in the 2008 contest. It finished 2nd in the first semi-final, ensuring qualification to the grand final where in finish 4th.