'Africa as it is': Türkiye’s new digital news channel TRT Africa start broadcasting

By Seda Sevencan

ISTANBUL (AA) – Turkish national broadcaster TRT launched its Africa edition, TRT Africa, a new digital news platform, on Friday.

TRT Africa began its broadcasting journey after a promotional program on the second day of the 'First Broadcasting Summit' organized by TRT and The African Union of Broadcasting (AUB) in Istanbul province.

With the aim of being a reliable news source in Africa, highlighting important global stories for African countries and providing unique digital content about local issues to African and global audiences, TRT Africa will appeal to an audience of more than 72 million and broadcast in English, French, Swahili and Hausa languages.

Speaking at the launch event of TRT Afrika, Mehmet Zahid Sobaci, the director general of TRT, Türkiye's public broadcaster, said the Western media had provided "one-sided coverage of Africa" for years.

"Africa was addressed only in line with the political interests of the West, ignoring the fact that colonialism was at the root of the current problems. The real history, colorful culture, natural beauties and meaningful stories of this great continent have not been adequately told until today.

"TRT Africa was born as the manifestation of Türkiye's constructive and friendly approach towards Africa in the media sector, unlike the West."
Stating that TRT Africa set out with the claim of being the only platform that sees Africa as it is in the international media and tells the stories of Africa as it is, Sobaci said, adding: "As a reflection of this claim, we determined our motto as 'Africa as it is.'"

He believes our TRT Africa platform will strengthen and contribute to Turkish-African relations.

TRT Afrika has joined the TRT family, which includes TRT World, TRT Arabic, TRT Russian, TRT Deutsch, TRT Français, and TRT Balkan.