The Turkvision Song Contest was created by the International Organization of Turkic Culture (TÜRKSOY) in cooperation with TBM TV, a Turkish music channel. TÜRKSOY aims to strengthen cultural ties between Turkic peoples. As of 2016, the organization has six sovereign member states (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) and three non-sovereign observer states (Tatarstan, Găgăuzia and Northern Cyprus). However, a country or region doesn’t have to be a member of TÜRKSOY in order to participate in Turkvision.
Main goals of the Turkvision Song Contest are to promote Turkic culture, to expand the scope of influence of Turkic-speaking artists, to create a common cultural field, and to forge friendly relations between Turkic-speaking nations and countries.
The inaugural contest was held from December 19–21, 2013 in the city of Eskişehir, Turkey. It featured participants from twenty-four Turkic countries and regions. The contest consisted of a semi-final and a grand final. Twelve semi-finalists qualified for the grand final and competed for the main prize. The contest was won by Farid Hasanov who represented Azerbaijan.
Unlike Eurovision, Turkvision doesn’t have an audience vote. The winner is chosen by a jury consisting of representatives of participating countries and regions. Members of the jury evaluate the entries on a scale of 1 to 10. They are deliberately seated in such a way that jury members who seat next to each other don’t share a common mother tongue. This is done in order to prevent the so-called “neighbor vote”.
Another difference between Turkvision and Eurovision is the choice of the next host country. In the Eurovision Song Contest, the winning country proceeds to host the following year’s event. In the Turkvision Song Contest, the host country and city are selected by TÜRKSOY. Past host cities have included Eskişehir (Turkey), Kazan (Tatarstan, Russia), and Istanbul (Turkey).
Photo: turkvizyon.tv
