Turkey’s long-running absence from the Eurovision Song Contest has evolved from a dispute over voting rules into a broader culture-war issue under the country’s conservative leadership, with officials increasingly framing the contest as both structurally unfair and out of step with the government’s social values. Turkey has not taken part in Eurovision since 2012, when Can Bonomo finished seventh with “Love Me Back” in Baku. Soon afterward, state broadcaster TRT pulled out of the competition, objecting to the voting system and the automatic qualification of the so-called “Big Five” — Germany, France, Britain, Spain and Italy — for the final. For years, Ankara’s case rested mainly on technical grounds. Turkish officials argued that the 50-50 split between jury and public votes distorted the outcome and encouraged bloc voting, allowing political alignments to shape results as much as musical performance. They also said the guaranteed place in the final for the “Big Five,” the contest’s b...
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDG) commander Mazloum Abdi has confirmed for the first time that a visit to Ankara is in preparation and that a meeting with jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan could also be on the agenda, according to an exclusive interview published by Turkish outlet Serbestiyet on May 14, based on a nearly one-hour WhatsApp exchange with Al-Monitor journalist Amberin Zaman. When asked whether he had received a formal invitation from the Turkish government, Abdi stopped short of confirming an official invite but said "we can say that such plans are at the preparation stage." He added that a potential meeting with Öcalan could form part of the visit's agenda, simply stating, "Yes, it could". This marks the first public acknowledgement from Abdi that direct engagement with Ankara is being actively considered, a significant development given the historically adversarial relationship between Turkey and the SDG. Integration with Damascus The wide-rang...