Eurovision winner Helena Paparizou: English lyrics a must for success

Helena Paparizou, who gathered the 230 points which brought her, and thus Greece, to victory in the Eurovision Song Contest held on Saturday night, was the cover of Hurriyet's Sunday magazine, GALA. In answer to the question of why she was entering the contest with an English rather than a Greek song, Paparizou replied "Like Turkish, Greek is a language not spoken very widely in the world. That is why I, along with other Greek artists in the past, have entered Eurovision with an English song. Because we have to appeal to the whole world, and generally, everyone speaks English. Turkey wanted to enter with a song in its own language this year. But everyone understands English, and singing in Turkish will be a handicap. But its the personal choice of every country..."  Turkey awards Greece a "12," Greece shows a "0" for Turkey Saying that she wanted to make herself as well as Greek music known everywhere, Paparizou said "I put Greek culture into everything I do." The Greek team received the full 12 possible points from 10 countries in the contest, including Turkey. The Turkish contestant, singer Gulseren, received, on the other hand, a vote of "0" from Greece. Â