| Birth Date: | 1862 |
| Birth Place: | Istanbul, Ottoman Empire |
| Death Date: | 27 May |
| Death Place: | Ankara, Turkey |
| Nationality: | Turkish |
| Occupation: | Journalist |
| Years Active: | 1883–1935 |
Ahmet Cevdet Oran (mostly known as Ahmet Cevdet; 1862–27 May 1935) was a Turkish journalist who founded an influential newspaper, İkdam which was in circulation between 1894 and 1928.[1] He was one of the early Turkish journalists who employed pure Turkish instead of Ottoman Turkish in his writings.
Ahmet Cevdet was born in Istanbul in 1862.[2] His father was Hacı Ahmed Efendi, a well-known tobacco merchant.[3] He graduated from Kaptanpaşa Junior High School and then from Mülkiye, school of political sciences, and the law school.[3] He took lessons in Arabic, Persian and French and learned German and Greek.[3] He started his career as a translator at the newspaper Tercümân-ı Hakîkat when he was twenty-one.[3] Later he began to publish his first articles in this newspaper.[3] Meanwhile, he also published articles in Takvîm-i Vekāyi and served in its editorial board. Later, he worked as a civil servant at Ottoman Bank.[3] He returned to journalism and worked as the chief editor of different newspapers, including Sabah, Tarik and Saadet.[2] [3] In 1894, he launched a newspaper entitled İkdam which he also edited.[4]
Ahmet Cevdet was in opposition to the Committee of Union and Progress, which took over the Ottoman administration after the proclamation of the Second Constitutional Monarchy.[2] Therefore, he went into exile in Switzerland.[2] [4] He supported the Turkish War of Independence and returned to the country following the establishment of Republic of Turkey.[2] In addition to journalism, he was the publisher of many books such as Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatnâme and Şemseddin Sâmî's Kamus-ı Türki.[3]
Ahmet Cevdet was married and had three daughters one of whom was the mother of Turkish social scientist Şerif Mardin.[5] He died in Ankara on 27 May 1935.[3]