Ahmet Cevdet Oran (mostly known as Ahmet Cevdet; 1862–27 May 1935) was a Turkish journalist who founded an influential newspaper, ''

İkdam ''İkdam'' ("Effort") was a newspaper in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey. In the period of its publication, in the city of Istanbul, it became the most popular newspaper.Selcuk Aksin Somel. (2003). ''Historical Dictionary of the Ottoman Empire''. ...

'' which was in circulation between 1894 and 1928. He was one of the early Turkish journalists who employed pure Turkish instead of Ottoman Turkish in his writings.

Biography

Ahmet Cevdet was born in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

in 1862. His father was Hacı Ahmed Efendi, a well-known tobacco merchant. He graduated from Kaptanpaşa Junior High School and then from Mülkiye, school of political sciences, and the law school. He took lessons in Arabic, Persian and French and learned German and Greek. He started his career as a translator at the newspaper '' Tercümân-ı Hakîkat'' when he was twenty-one. Later he began to publish his first articles in this newspaper. Meanwhile, he also published articles in '' Takvîm-i Vekāyi'' which he also served in the editorial board. Later, he worked as a civil servant at

Ottoman Bank The Ottoman Bank ( tr, Osmanlı Bankası), known from 1863 to 1925 as the Imperial Ottoman Bank (french: Banque Impériale Ottomane, ota, بانق عثمانی شاهانه) and correspondingly referred to by its French acronym BIO, was a bank ...

. He returned to journalism and worked as the chief editor of different newspapers, including ''Sabah'', '' Tarik'' and '' Saadet''. In 1894, he launched a newspaper entitled ''İkdam'' which he also edited. Ahmet Cevdet was in opposition to the

Committee of Union and Progress The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى جمعيتی, translit=İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti, script=Arab), later the Union and Progress Party ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى فرقه‌سی, translit=İttihad ve Tera ...

, which took over the Ottoman administration after the proclamation of the Second Constitutional Monarchy. Therefore, he went into exile in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. He supported the

Turkish War of Independence The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...

and returned to the country following the establishment of

Republic of Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. In addition to journalism, he was the publisher of many books such as

Evliya Çelebi Derviş Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi ( ota, اوليا چلبى), was an Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years, recording ...

's '' Seyahatname'' and Şemseddin Sâmi's ''Kamus-ı Türki''. Ahmet Cevdet married and had three daughters one of whom was the mother of Turkish social scientist

Şerif Mardin Şerif Mardin (1927 – 6 September 2017) was a prominent Turkish sociologist, political scientist, academic and thinker. In a 2008 publication, he was referred to as the "doyen of Turkish sociology." Early life and education He was born in Ista ...

. He died in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

on 27 May 1935.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oran, Ahmet Cevdet 19th-century journalists 19th-century newspaper founders 19th-century newspaper publishers (people) 19th-century people from the Ottoman Empire 20th-century newspaper founders 20th-century Turkish writers 1862 births 1935 deaths Writers from Istanbul Turkish newspaper editors Turkish expatriates in Switzerland