Lied van Liedjes 14

This was the fourteenth Lied van Liedjes to be held. It was held on the 18th, 20th and 22nd of September 2001.

Organization
Similar to the situation where Morocco wasn't suitable to host and was outside Europe, another nation won outside the continent. Kazakhstan was very close to Europe, like Morocco, but it's cities even further away from the majority of the nations, and for branding issues where this currently European contest was held in Asia. Russia, being it's neighbour, hosted in Rostov, close to Kazakhstan. And like Edition 11 where a Spanish and Morrocan coordinator would work together, a Russian and Kazakh coordinator would work together here.

Hans Weiss, a German director returned to direct this edition of the contest. Originally set for the first Semi Final on Tuesday 11th September 2001, the dates were pushed back a week due to intense 9/11 news coverage.

Contest
Algeria, Iraq and Morocco again protested Israel's involvement. Iraq had submitted a song and had plans to participate in the second Semi-Final but deep 9/11 speculation forced their withdrawal, which the directors now regret doing in such haste. Algeria and Morocco failed to sign up in time. Turkey agreed to stay in the contest on the condition that it would auto-qualify to the final. The rules were changed so the top 5 + host nation would automatically qualify, which included Turkey. Due to Russia hosting but not coming top 5 in the previous edition, 6 nations would automatically qualify. Each semi final would include 18 participants, with ten qualifiers. The grand final would include ten qualifiers from each Semi-Final, and the six automatically qualifying nations for a total of 26 countries.

Pots for Semi Finals
To avoid too many similar countries in the same semi final, each country would be placed in a geographical or cultural group and then drawn to be in the semi final from there.

Semi Final One
The first Semi Final was held on Tuesday September 18th. Out of the 18 countries participating, 10 would go to the final.

Semi Final Two
The second Semi Final was held on Thursday September 20th. Out of the 18 countries participating, 10 would go to the final.