Turkey ranks fourth in Norway dominated Eurovision song contest

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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Turkey's representative, Hadise, performed at her best to take fourth place receiving 177 points in the voting. "I represented my country very well," she said after the competition.

Twenty-five performers from across Europe competed in Moscow in a musical bonanza that is one of the most watched annual television events in the world, despite being written off by some as European kitsch.

"Fairytale," penned and performed by 23-year-old fiddler Alexander Rybak, blew away competition from Iceland’s Yohanna, who finished second, and Azerbaijan’s AySel & Arash, who was third, with a folksy melody to the accompaniment of an acrobatic dance routine and two blonde female support singers.

The elfin-faced Rybak, the winning graduate of a Norwegian television talent show in 2006, accrued the most points in Eurovisions 53-year history, outstripping Finland’s Lordi in 2006.

Moscow was reported to have spent $42 million on the five-day event, making it the most expensive competition in Eurovision's history, Reuters reported.

As usual glitz and kitsch dominated the show, including dancing Roman gladiators and one performer clad in a blue sequined mask, writhing on the floor.   But there was also a smattering of well-established stars. Andrew Lloyd Webber, famed for his successful musicals, composed the

British entry and U.S. burlesque dancer Dita von Teese played a supporting role in the German song.

TAINTED BY CONTROVERSY   

Politics also bubbled to the surface of this year's competition. Organizer’s banned Georgia's entry earlier this year because its song was considered a political jab at Russia, with which it fought a brief war last August.

Russia was trying to capitalize on the prestigious event to showcase the nation’s hospitality and growing role in modern society, but those efforts were undermined several hours earlier when riot police attacked gay pride rallies in the capital.

Police hauled away around 40 demonstrators, including British-based activist Peter Tatchell and American activist Andy Thayer of Chicago, co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network, who had defied the Moscow authorities and tried to stage a banned demonstration.

Rybak appeared to throw his support behind the gay rights protesters when he said at the news conference: "Why did they (the Moscow police) spend all their energy stopping gays in Moscow when the biggest gay parade was here tonight?"

As winner, Norway will host the next Eurovision Song Contest.