Turkey Ministry Recommends Jewish Artist for Eurovision, HT Says

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry recommended a Jewish Turk represent the country at the Eurovision song contest, Haberturk newspaper reported, without saying how it got the information.

The ministry sent a letter to state television channel TRT on Jan. 3 recommending that pop singer Can Bonomo represent Turkey at the yearly event, Haberturk reported. The move was intended as an opening to Jews amid the worst period in Turkish- Israeli relations in the countries’ histories, the Istanbul- based newspaper said. Bonomo was announced as Turkey’s representative for the contest by TRT on Jan. 6, it said.

Turkey will also be the first Muslim country to air a documentary about the Holocaust as part of the same cultural opening toward Jews, Haberturk reported. French director Claude Lanzmann’s 9.5-hour documentary “Shoah” began airing with Turkish subtitles on TRT on Jan. 26 and will continue in episodes to be aired each Thursday, it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Benjamin Harvey in Istanbul at bharvey11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net

via Turkey Ministry Recommends Jewish Artist for Eurovision, HT Says – Bloomberg.