After Hadise's 4th place in Moscow at the 2009 Contest major speculation of who would represent Turkey in the 2010 Contest arose. The first names announced by Turkish media were in July 2009, when it was speculated that TRT had approached Tarkan to represent Turkey at the contest in Oslo, Norway. Murat Boz was also speculated at being a possible Turkish entry in May 2010. This was followed by confirmation in the Turkish newspaper Sabah that Tarkan would represent the country in May, with agreements confirmed between him and TRT. However this was later denied by both Tarkan's management and TRT. Further names speculated by the media included Nazan Öncel, who may write an entry for the contest and has been contacted by TRT for such. Öncel denied any contact with the broadcaster however she did mention an interest in writing a Turkish Eurovision entry. Other names who indicated an interest in representing Turkey included Ziynet Sali. Ajda Pekkan, who represented Turkey at the 1980, had been approached by TRT to enter in 2010, however she refused the offer. Five names have been tipped by the media as being candidates: Şebnem Ferah, Deniz Arcak, Sibel Tüzün, Hadise and maNga, winners of the "Best Turkish Act" and "Best European Act" at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2009. maNga was speculated as being the strongest candidate for Eurovision after the MTV Europe Music Awards, however the group later denied that they had been given an invitation by TRT, but said that should they receive the invitation they would accept it. However, on 19 November the Milliyet newspaper claimed that maNga is the favourites to be the Turkish Eurovision entry in Oslo. In December 2009 TRT announced that they would hold an email poll, in which the public could suggest names to TRT for Eurovision 2010 who TRT would further discuss with over representing the country in Oslo. The poll, open until 11 December, gave three artists which TRT would choose from: Şebnem Ferah; maNga; and Emre Aydin, after rumours suggested that Murat Boz had been selected. On 2 January it was revealed that Ferah had rejected a Eurovision proposal, saying that it was no longer a musical contest. On 7 January it was announced that TRT had reached a preliminary agreement with maNga to enter Eurovision, with Aydin also declining Eurovision participation in 2010. On 12 January TRT confirmed that maNga would enter Eurovision for Turkey in May.
Selection process
Throughout January it was reported that maNga had entered an intense period in preparation for Eurovision, perfecting songs for submission to TRT. In February 2010 maNga submitted three songs to TRT, who will choose the competing Eurovision song. All songs are in English. The official representative, We Could Be the Same was selected from the three submitted entries and presented by TRT on 3 March.
At Eurovision
Turkey competed in the second semi-final of the contest on 27 May, performing in the 17th slot, and qualified for the final. In the Final on 29 May, MaNga came 2nd with 170 points. They performed in the 14th slot. As the eventual winning country of the contest, Germany, automatically qualifies for the final of the 2011 contest due to their "Big Four" status, it was speculated that Turkey would automatically qualify for the final, but on 28 August 2010 at a Reference Group meeting in Belgrade it was decided that no such change would be made, and the number of Final participants would simply be lowered to 24 countries. The question was eventually resolved when the fifth slot was filled by Italy, returning from a 14-year hiatus, as a Big Five country.
Split results
In the Semi-final 2 Turkey came 1st with 118 points: the public awarded Turkey 2nd place with 119 points and the jury awarded also 2nd place with 93 points.
In the Final Turkey came 2nd with 170 points: the public awarded Turkey 2nd place with 177 points and the jury awarded 8th place with 119 points.
Turkey