Turkey was represented at the

Eurovision Song Contest 1984 The Eurovision Song Contest 1984 was the 29th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 5 May 1984 in the in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RTL), the contest was hel ...

with the song "", composed by Selçuk Başar, with lyrics by Ülkü Aker, and performed by the band

Beş Yıl Önce, On Yıl Sonra Beş Yıl Önce, On Yıl Sonra (Five Years Ago, Ten Years Later) was a Turkish band of the 1980s. They represented Turkey at the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 with the song ''Halay'' and reached 12th position and 37 points. The members of the ban ...

. The Turkish participating broadcaster, the

Turkish Radio and Television Corporation The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT; Turkish: ) is the national public broadcasting, public broadcaster of Turkey, founded in 1964. TRT was for many years the only television and radio broadcaster in Turkey. Before the introductio ...

(TRT), selected its entry through a national final.

Before Eurovision

The

(TRT) held the national final on 25 February 1984 at its studios in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, hosted by Başak Doğru. Ten songs competed and the winner was determined by an expert jury. According to the regulations the winner had to get at least 15 points. However at the end of the first voting no participant received the number of points required. Therefore a second round took place, with "" performed by

(which were ranked the third in the first voting) receiving the most points, and was thus determined as the winner. During the final, the group was accompanied by

Arif Sağ Arif Sağ (born 1946) is a Turkish singer, bağlama virtuoso, and leading figure in modern Turkish folk music. A former academic, he was also a member of the Turkish parliament from 1987 to 1991. Early years Arif Sağ was born to a miller at D ...

, the renowned

bağlama The bağlama or saz is a family of plucked string instruments and long-necked lutes used in Europe, Balkans, Caucasus, Middle East, Khazar, Central Asia including Germany, France, Belgium, TRNC, Netherlands, Albania, Greece,Bosnia, Serbia, Croat ...

virtuoso.

At Eurovision

The contest was broadcast on (with commentary by ). The show was watched by 40 million viewers. On the night of the contest, Beş Yıl Önce On Yıl Sonra performed 15th in the running order following Germany and preceding Finland. In the final they were not accompanied by Arif sağ. At the close of the voting Halay had received 37 points placing Turkey 12th. 8 participants had voted for Halay. This was the best result Turkey ever had in Eurovision up to 1984. The Turkish jury awarded its 12 points to Spain. One of the promotional films, which was shown to all delegations, had ignited a controversy. Bülent Varol, head of the Turkish delegation, reported to the EBU that "Turkey is not an Arab country and has no relation to Arab music and cannot be represented with a fey". However, the promotional film wasn't changed despite the scandal.

Voting

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1984

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1984

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster submits an origina ...