Pınar Ayhan

Pınar Ayhan — Biography

Born Pınar Karakoç in Diyarbakır on 28 March 1972 and educated at Hacettepe University, Pınar Ayhan is a Turkish singer who competed in Turkey's Eurovision Song Contest national final three times, finishing runner-up in 1996 with "Var mısın söyle," performed with Tüzmen, and again in 1997 with "Sen nerede ben orada."

At the national final held on 18 February 2000 at the Ari television studios in Ankara, hosted by Yasemin Pamukçu and Ömer Önder and judged by an expert jury across ten songs, she won with "Yorgunum Anla," performed with Grup S.O.S., composed by Sühan Ayhan with lyrics by Ayhan herself and Orkun Yazgan; the win sent her to represent Turkey at the 45th Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm. Performing 22nd on the night, her entry placed 10th with 59 points, while the Turkish jury awarded its own 12 points to Sweden.

Beyond music, Ayhan hosted the program Günlük Rehber on TRT Okul, released the tracks "Duyuyor musun?" (2012) and "İkimiz İçin" (2014), and received the Association of Atatürkist Thought's Atatürkist of the Year award in the culture and arts category in 2022, continuing to appear in cultural programs such as Şehirlerin Ecesi: Ankara in subsequent years.