In 1975 Turkey participated in the contests for the first time with great curiosity and excitement. After the Turkish eliminations there were two winners with the same point and the song "Seninle Bir Dakika" sang by Semiha Yanki won the competition by the drawing of the lots, becoming our first song to compete in the ESC. Semiha Yanki, who took place in the contest wearing a garment composed of local patterns, was 16 years old at the time. Turkey got the last place that year, where there were 19 contestants. After not taking place in the contests in 1976 and 1977, Turkey attended the contest for the second time in 1978. In 1979 Turkey withdrew from the contest in the final moment and in 1994, because the last five contestants of the 1993 ESC final could not attend the contest the next year, Turkey could not take place that year either. In all other years Turkey attended the ESC. In 1986 after the success of taking the ninth place with the band Klips ve Onlar and their song "Halley", finally Turkey got the third place with a Levent Çoker composition "Dinle", sang by Sebnem Paker. TRT, taking a radical decision, proposed Sertab Erener to compete for Turkey in ESC. Erener took the first place in the 48th ESC organized in Riga, with the song "Everyway That I Can", which she had composed together with Demir Demirkan. The 49th Eurovision Song Contest was organized in Istanbul Abdi Ipekçi Auditorium in 2004 with the new format of double elimination system. Athena took the 4th place in that year's ESC. | 
