The Turkish participating broadcaster, Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu (TRT), internally selected its entry for the contest.

Its least successful result was in 1987 when it placed 22nd (last) with the song "Şarkım Sevgi Üstüne" by Seyyal Taner and Lokomotif, receiving 0 points in total.

[4] The song that Erener would perform at the contest, "Everyway That I Can", was announced on 24 February 2003 and presented to the public on 8 March 2003 during the TRT 1 show Sayısal Gece.

[7][8] "Everyway That I Can" became Turkey's first entry in the contest to be performed entirely in English, which created controversy with Turkish musicians and the public.

TRT General Manager Yücel Yener added that their goal of allowing an English song to represent Turkey for the first time was to achieve international success for the country.

[12] The draw for running order had previously been held on 29 November 2002 in Riga, with the results being revealed during a delayed broadcast of the proceedings later that day.

[14] Sertab Erener was joined on stage by four dancers: Anja von Geldern, Christina Van Leyen, Claudia Kraxner and Özge Fışkın, and Turkey won the contest placing first with a score of 167 points.

It received a sole 12 points from Turkey themselves, who (unlike in standard Eurovision editions) were allowed to vote for their own entry.