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

On 18 September 2008, TRT opened the suggestions for the public to nominate potential artists for consideration.

[1] In October 2008, TRT announced that two artists were shortlisted following public input: Hadise and Şebnem Ferah.

[2] On 21 October 2008, TRT announced that it had internally selected Belgian-Turkish singer Hadise to represent Turkey at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009.

[6] The singer later stated that she would be personally working on the lyrics as well as possibly collaborating with songwriters in Belgium.