Turkvision Song Contest 2014
The Turkvision Song Contest 2014 (Turkish: Türkvizyon Şarkı Yarışması 2014) was the second edition of the Turkvision Song Contest, which took place in Kazan in the region of Tatarstan. Twenty-four Turkic regions, which have either a large Turkic population or a widely spoken Turkic language, confirmed their participation, making it the largest contest exceeding the participation number for the 2013 contest whereas four European countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Germany and Russia) made their debut. Altai Republic, Belarus, Kemerovo, Kosovo, and Northern Cyprus withdrew from the contest. The semi final took place on 19 November 2014 and the final took place on 21 November 2014. The presenters of the contest were Artem Shalimov, Narmin Agaeva, and Ranil Nuriov.[1]
On 15 October 2013, it was announced that the hosts for Turkvision 2014 will be Kazan, Tatarstan.[4] Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,535, it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia.[5]
The TatNeft Arena, an indoor sporting arena, was chosen as the host venue for the 2014 contest. The capacity of the arena is 10,000 and was opened in 2005. The arena is home to Ak Bars Kazan of the Kontinental Hockey League.[6]
The contest consisted of a semi-final held on 19 November 2014, and a grand final which took place on the evening of 21 November 2014.[7] Twenty-five participating regions took part in the semi-final, of which twelve were to qualify and proceeded to the grand final.[4][8][9] This was later changed to fifteen qualifiers,[10] after it was discovered that voting fraud had occurred from Turkmenistan, who had awarded themselves 5 points. Also the total score for Bosnia and Herzegovina was miscalculated on the scoring system, and had totalled up more points than they actually received.[11]
Eldar Zhanikaev, Genghiz Erhan Cutcalai, and Ahmet Tuzlu returned to the contest for a second consecutive year, representing the joint-region of Kabardino-Balkaria & Karachay-Cherkessia, Romania, and Iraq respectively. Zhanikaev's previous entry was entitled "Adamdi Bizni Atibiz" (His name is Adam),[12] while Tuzlu's last entry was entitled "Kerkük'ten Yola Çikak" (Out from Kirkuk).[13]
Following the semi-final, it was reported that Funda Kılıç had come under criticism from a number of delegations for performing in shorts. The head of delegation for Bashkortostan stated that it was outrageous for Kılıç to be wearing the shorts in front of 300 million viewers. Kılıç did however have the support of the contest organisers.[17] In the final, Kılıç did not opt to wear the same outfit as in the semi-final.
