Some media practitioners from across Africa are currently visiting historical sites and learning about the country`s economic evolution.

Media men and women from some African countries are currently exploring Turkey’s economic development, its secret and lessons that can be learnt by the continent whose majority economies have set deadlines to attain emergence. The journalists are equally visiting historical sites in Istanbul, Turkey to get abreast with the relics of the country’s rich history that has stood the test of time modernity notwithstanding. The four-day press visit to Turkey’s economic heartbeat, Istanbul, that began Tuesday March 31, 2015 is organized by an emerging airlines company, Turkish Airlines that is seeking to conquer the world with state-of-the-art aviation services.

The city tour is helping the pressmen to uncover the marvels of Istanbul`s historic and cultural sites that today serve as an attraction to both national and foreign tourists. These are the likes of the 532-537 Hagia Sophia, one of the most impressive architectural samples of Buzantium era. Guides around the site say it is absolutely mystical and a unique example of art where visitors fine motifs and traces of Christianity and Islam. It had moved from a church to a mosque and today a museum and now it is a veritable attraction for tourists from far and near. The Imperial Mosque of Sultan Ahmet, one of the greatest masterpieces of the world and the last sample of classical Ottoman architecture, the Topkapi Imperial Palace as well as the Grand Bazaar are not the least of attractions in Istanbul that is also receiving the African pressmen. Their rich collection of precious handmade carpets, jewelry, leather and other souvenirs are tempting even to eye-shoppers. Places like this in Istanbul tell of a booming economy with industrialisation at the fore.

Speaking to Cameroon Tribune in Istanbul Tuesday at the start of the city tour, Abdullah Acar, Regional Station Manager of Turkish Airlines in Yaounde said not much is known across the globe and Africa in particular about Turkey and Istanbul and it was but normal to get news gatekeepers discover the country and city so as to better tell the story in the different programmes and columns of their news organs. This explains why the organiser of the tour decided to take the over ten African journalists through Turkish Airlines` evolution, challenges and ambitions at its headquarters in Istanbul.

The company, officials said, has set out not only to conquer the global aviation market but also to do so with evolving services that match with the changes of the times as well as with the growing needs of those who use air transport to go about their daily activities.