Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest in Eastern Thrace and Western Asia), Turkey takes part in lots of Westerner organisations including their NATO membership in 1952 and associate membership in the European Economic Community in 1959. Test transmissions started on TRT 1 on 31 January 1968. A full national television schedule, which at that time linked the areas in and around Ankara, Istanbul, and Izmir, started in December 1971. TRT renewed its membership in the European Broadcasting Union (having been a founding member previously offering only radio) starting on 26 August 1972 with Turkey's first Eurovision Network event, a football match (Turkey vs. Italy), on 13
Northern Thrace Bulgaria occurred here: it was 45.2 °C at Sadovo in 1916. Important rivers are the Maritsa and its tributaries. Important cities include Plovdiv, Burgas, Stara Zagora, Sliven, Haskovo, Yambol, Pazardzhik, Asenovgrad, Kardzhali, Dimitrovgrad, Kazanlak and Smolyan. Northern Thrace has an area of 42,073 km². The Ottoman Turks created the autonomous province of Eastern Rumelia in northern Thrace in 1878. The region was annexed to the Principality of Bulgaria in 1885. Northern Thrace Northern Thrace or North Thrace (, ) (as opposed to Western Thrace and East Thrace to the south) constitutes the northern and the largest part of the historical