Name of Object:

Tercüman-ı Ahval Newspaper

Location:

Ankara, Türkiye

Holding Institution:

National Library of Turkey

 About Ministry of Culture and Tourism (General Directorate for Cultural Heritage and Museums), Ankara

Date of Object:

1860-1866

Description:

Tercüman-ı Ahvâl was the first private newspaper published in Istanbul. It was produced between 1860-1866 by Agah Efendi and Şinasi, men of letters of Tanzimat Era. Initially it was published only on Sundays, but starting from the 25th issue in 1861, it was published three times a week. Leading authors of the period such as Ahmed Vefik Paşa, Ziya Paşa and Refik Bey frequently wrote for it, discussing the reasons for the backwardness of Ottoman society and current events. In the paper, works of literature were also published. For instance the first Turkish theatre play, Wedding/Marriage of the Poet, by Şinasi (1860) was published as a series. The paper was closed for two weeks in 1861 after a very critical article probably written by Ziya Paşa. This is regarded as the first example of a ban in Turkish press. The paper was no longer published after 11 March 1866.

[sh_db_typeof_object]

Newspaper

Archival or Bibliographical Reference:

National Library Archives of Turkey

Citation of this web page:

"Tercüman-ı Ahval Newspaper" in "Sharing History", Museum With No Frontiers, 2025.
https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;AWE;tr;198;tr

Copyedited by: Daniel de la VegaDaniel de la Vega

Daniel de la Vega is a copy editor based in Portland, Oregon. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in linguistics from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 2014 and has since done editing and localization work on everything from college applications to magazines to video game dialogue.

MWNF Working Number: TR2 194