ABSTRACT
For many in Turkey, winning the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) was regarded as a symbol of finally being accepted as a "European" country rather than a "Middle Eastern" one. This chapter discusses some aspects of the "historical moment" in which Eurovision 2003 occurred and suggests the ways that Turkey's participation in the ESC defined that moment. Turkey's victory in the ESC in 2003 dramatically showed how important culture can be in Turkey's maneuvering to find its place on the European stage. The period leading up to ESC 2003 brought to the fore a number of political and cultural factors that influenced attitudes towards Turkey in Europe and may also have contributed to Turkey's Eurovision success. The most complex factor that may have affected the result of the 2003 contest was the re-drawing of the political map of Europe and the continued growth of the European Union, prompting newly emergent attitudes toward ethnic and national cultural expression.
