On 13 March 1993 , she gave a concert during the national selection in Turkey to choose the artist for the Eurovision Song Contest 1993 . In June , '' Hey Girl '' magazine named her the Promising Singer of the Year . In July , she performed at Rumelihisarı . In 1993 and 1994 , she went to the US and underwent three surgeries for ulcerative colitis from which she had been suffering since the age of 11 . She later described her illness with these words : " There was a wound in my bowel which did n't heal for years . Hospitals , diets , resting , beds ... I used to go to the bathroom 35 times a day . My intestines could not hold anything . " All of her large intestine was taken out during the surgery and , as a result , she had to walk with a bag in her hand for a year . She began to question her own existence as she thought she was going to die from the disease , and in her head she started asking questions such as " Why am I here ? Why me ? " . Thus she started studying philosophy books and began meditation
Eurovision Song Contest 1993
Eurovision Song Contest 1993
Sertab Erener