Turkey prime minister claims Israel 'tampered' Eurovision win

Turkish Prime Minister Yildrim has claimed that Israel only won the Eurovision as a political move.

2 min read

17 June, 2018

Turkey has boycotted the European Union since 2013 [Getty]

Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildrim claimed Israel tampered with the Eurovision Song Contest results so they could win the pan-Europe tournament, Israeli news site Ynews reported on Saturday.

Speaking to a Turkish YouTube channel, Babala TV, Yildrim said that the song was not good enough to win the contest, and so there must be another factor behind he win

"The Israeli singer wasn't good. Israel is only able to kill, not sing," he said.

"The song contest this year developed to an ideological thing. For the first time, they let Israel win the competition so that they can host it next year."

Yildirim added that Israel won this year's Eurovision despite not receiving the highest score.

"They let them win despite not getting points as it's being held in the country next year that won. They changed the voting method. They planned everything so that it can be held in Jerusalem purposely," Yildirim claimed.

"The imperialists did it since they want the contest to be held in Jerusalem next year in order to sow strife between religions" in the region, he went on to say.

Turkey has boycotted Eurovision since 2013, claiming the tournament benefited the so-called "Big Five" members.

Yildirim added in the interview that Turkey does not plan to return to the competition.