Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest 1988

Eurovision Song Contest 1988
Participating broadcaster	Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu (TRT)
Country	Turkey
National selection
Selection process	12. Eurovision Şarkı Yarışması Türkiye Finali
Selection date(s)	13 February 1988
Selected artist(s)	MFÖ
Selected song	"Sufi"
Selected songwriter(s)	Mazhar Alanson Fuat Güner Özkan Uğur
Finals performance
Final result	15th, 37 points
Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1987 • 1988 • 1989►

Turkey was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1988 with the song "Sufi", written by Mazhar Alanson, Fuat Güner, and Özkan Uğur, and performed by themselves under their stage name MFÖ. The Turkish participating broadcaster, Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu (TRT), selected its entry through a national final. MFÖ had already represented Turkey at the 1985 contest.

Before Eurovision

12. Eurovision Şarkı Yarışması Türkiye Finali

The national final featured songs written by seventeen composers directly invited by Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu (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]}

Final – 13 February 1988

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	—

At Eurovision

On the night of the contest Mazhar 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]

Voting

Points awarded to Turkey[5] Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points  Germany  Israel 7 points 6 points  France 5 points  Spain 4 points  Luxembourg  Sweden 3 points 2 points 1 point  Netherlands  United Kingdom

Points awarded by Turkey[5] Score Country 12 points  United Kingdom 10 points   Switzerland 8 points  France 7 points  Yugoslavia 6 points  Netherlands 5 points  Spain 4 points  Italy 3 points  Greece 2 points  Ireland 1 point  Germany

References

1. "TURKISH NATIONAL FINAL 1988".
2. "Turkey: Şarkı Yarışması 1988 Final".
3. "Final of Dublin 1988". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
4. Michael Kuyucu: Türkiye'nin Serüveni Eurovision, İstanbul, 2005, ISBN 975-8823-93-0, pp.161-163
5. "Results of the Final of Dublin 1988". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.