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 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 region of Thrace. Bulgarian Thrace is located in Southern Bulgaria and refers to the whole territory south of the Balkan Mountains and east of the Mesta River; to the Greek and Turkish borders in south and to the Black Sea in east. It encompasses Sredna Gora, the Upper Thracian Plain and 90% of the Rhodopes. The climate differs from continental to transitional continental and mountainous. The highest temperature recorded in