And it’s nil points from Türkiye to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest Winner as the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan claimed the event threatened traditional family values. Last weekend, Swiss singer Nemo convincingly won Eurovision with their song ‘The Code’. Nemo earned the lion’s share of the jury vote and fifth in the public vote for their operatic vocal melodies and impressive performance atop a rotating platform.
Nemo also made history at the 68th Eurovision Song Contest as , an important moment for an event that has long championed LGBTQ+ equality and inclusion. While Nemo’s victory sparked celebrations in the Malmö arena and around the world, one world leader was less than pleased with their historic win. Türkiye president gave a speech after a cabinet meeting on Monday in which he described the contest’s participants as the “Trojan horses of social corruption”.
In 2013, when he was the country’s prime minister, Erdoğan faced an a financial corruption scandal when 52 people related to his ruling party, including three of his cabinet ministers, were arrested in raids over $100 billion. Erdoğan has since rounded up journalists before they published articles questioning his links to social corruption. Erdoğan went on to say the government was right to keep the country out of the pan-European competition since 2012.
Before that, Türkiye took part in the contest 34 times and even won in 2003 when Sertab Erener performed ‘Ev.
