EBU, The European Broadcasting Union, has reminded this morning via Twitter that it changed the rules for participation in order to allow countries that did not broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest to participate the following year.
Previously, the countries that did not air the show one year were automatically disqualified from taking part the following year. This means that Turkey, who allegedly did not broadcast this year’s show due to Krista Siegfrieds’ lesbian kiss, although the official position is that TRT did not agree with the new voting rules and the current status of the Big Five, will still be able to return to the Eurovision 2014 contest.
The move, presumably meant to increase the number of countries participating in the ESC amid fears that some nations might be tempted to withdraw due to financial difficulties, will also benefit other countries like Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, or Poland, who will thus be allowed to participate. Luxembourg, a five-time Eurovision winner, has already announced its intention to return to the contest.
From the European countries that did not participate this year, only Portugal and Bosnia and Herzegovina aired the show from Malmö.
What do you think? We certainly missed Turkey this year and we would be thrilled to have its musical talent back in the game! However, seeing as last night we witnessed not one, but two same-sex kisses, plus a delicious pair of naked buttocks, what would Turkey make of an increasingly gay-friendly and progressive show?
For those who missed it, here is the man-on-man gay kiss – at a gay wedding, no less:
I did not miss Turkey at all, and I won’t be sad if they keep their decision. They are not that unhappy about televoting because they benefit from the huge Turkish diaspora and neighbouring votes. It’s also hard to believe that they did not broadcast the final because of low viewing rates; Eurovision is very popular there. Besides, that decision came just after Finland’s kiss. Coincidence? I don’t think so. No, I won’t miss Turkey if they don’t come back.
@Jim Chang
i love Tarkan so much and he is not gay
gays is not bad they are people too
I DID NOT MISS TURKEY. Year after year they send crappy entries and always end up in the top thanks to their diaspora vote (I.E. the horrible entry in 2012). As for the kiss, they need to call down…in 2009 hadise was dressed like a sl*t humping the dancer on the stage and that was oaky to watch, but two girls kissing is a big offense. As if Turkey doesn’t have a gay population (Tarkan anyone?)
OH MY GOD WHY PEOPLE SOOOOOOOOO FAKEEEEEEE!!!!!!EACH COUNTRY IN EUROVISION SONG CONTEST VOTES FOR THEMSELVES OR FOR EACH OTHER DON’T U KNOW THAT???! ARMENIA-RUSSIA GREECE-CYPRUS ROMANIA-MOLDOVA GEORGIA-LITHUANIA IRELAND-UK ETC. SO BE HONEST!EACH COUNTRY ALWAYS VOTES FOR THEIR FRIEND OR NEIGHBORING COUNTRY,THAT IS IT! WHEN IT COMES TO AZERBAIJAN,WE ALL KNOW THAT AZERBAIJAN HELD ESC LAST YEAR SO WHY DO AZERBAIJAN NEED WIN IT AGAIN IT IS NOT SO LOGICAL!AND EVERYONE KNOWS THAT “HOLD ME” BY FARID.MAMMADOV WAS AMAZING!THE STAGE,COSTUMES,GLASSBOX,AND INCREDIBLE VOICE!THANK YOU FARID AND THANK U EUROPE FOR VOTES!AZERBAIJAN DESERVEDLY TOOK 2 PLACE!!!
@Johan – Turkey’s decision to withdraw didn’t have much to do with the actual broadcast. They could have still broadcast the event, like Portugal or Bosnia and Herzegovina. The decision not to broadcast the show was announced on the 14th of May and TRT cited low ratings, although ESC has always been very popular in Turkey – as you may have noticed, there were a lot of Turkish flags in the Malmö Arena as well. However, as we mentioned before, gay activists on the ground revealed that the move was because of the outraged media reports of the Finnish show.… Read more »
It’s plain nonsense that Turkey didn’t broadcast Eurovision because of *that* Finnish kiss. The decision to withdraw was made months ago (before the December deadline set by EBU), when there weren’t any signs of any lesbian kissing yet. Turkey didn’t broadcast it because they weren’t in it, simple. Strange how an unfounded rumour can make its way to sites like this one. It doesn’t make wiwibloggs.com any more reliable, I’m afraid.
I was so happy turkey didn’t participate this year. I have nothing against them (sertab remains one of my favorite ESC winners), but turkey always gets a huge number of votes, even if their song sucks (the same goes for russia). I still can’t believe turkey came in second place in 2010, with that awful rock song.
@Alex: The naked ass was in the faux-wildlife-documentary “let’s meet the Swedes” bit directly before Petra’s musical number in the interval. Not only is it Eurovision’s first official nudity, it was also directly after showing people drawing cocks-and-balls on a guy’s face while he was passed out.
Omg, did Azerbaijan cheat with the voting?! They operate in 15 countries to get all of the 12 points, now I get why Malta gave for the last few years 12 points to Azerbaijan…
– http://12points.tv/esc/item/1950-proof-of-vote-rigging-by-azerbaijan
– http://eurovisiontimes.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/eurovision-voting-2012-did-azerbaijan-cheat/
since 5 of 5 nordic countries were in final and in past 7 years,3 nordic won,you can freely call it nordovision.
Oh, nice! Thanks, Bogdan – how did I miss it 🙂
@Alex – Jump to the 2:00 mark. You’re welcome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqMsC9uPxME
Wait, naked buttocks? Where??
I did not miss turkey. Refreshing not to have the political voting. Yes Eurovision is needed in a country that really gave me a shit time when I stayed their over my sexuality. But you know what… Sometime I can’t be bothered to stand up for my rights… I just want to be somewhere where it’s an everyday part of life. I don’t have plans to visit the country again and if rumours are true regarding the ‘kissing’ incident then Turkey you are unbelievable.
Turkey has large diaspora in Europe as some other countryes like Greece and Serbia,Croatia that is main reson why turkey did not complay with changed rules,not gay kisses,they can always put commercials on that segment.And somehow it is not fair that countryes with diaspora should apologyes to others for it.Becouse other way ,we all can ask with full rights form big 5 to become equal,once you change the rules,and you will alway have a problem.If they wanted to stick with to a traditon of Esc, than nothing should be changed at all. So reverse as everything was before.
I thought they changed that rule to let Italy return 2011.
LOL, this isn’t going to work at all. I am convinced that the # of countries participating will drop even lower next year.