A member of the Turkish jury blamed G?lseren of making her way into the Eurovision contest through bribes, Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported. Photo by ww.doteurovision.com
Bribe allegations cast a shadow over Turkey's participation in the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest, days after the vote in neighboring Bulgaria was blasted to have been manipulated.
Gьlseren was picked to represent Turkey at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest by a panel of judges in the middle of February. The Turkish national final this year featured seven songs, all in Turkish.
Despite earlier plans to allow televoters to decide the winner, a panel of seventeen judges was charged with finding a winner for Kiev.
A member of the jury blamed the winner of bribing the panel, Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported.
In a separate move, Turkish singer Syulejman Durmaz, who lives in France, was cited as saying he was forced to pay EUR 4,000 to make it to the national final.
In Bulgaria the winner, famed band "Kaffe", garnered twice as many votes as the runner-up, top TV host Slavi Trifonov in a duet with Roma music icon Sofi Marinova. They triggered a scandal by refusing to stage a performance in what they called a "predetermined contest".
A total of 152,000 votes via SMSs were cast in the contest that picked up Bulgaria's bid for Eurovision semi-finals in Kiev May 19.
Unlike Bulgaria, Turkey is automatically qualified to the Eurovision final on 21 May.