Mehmet Tahir was born in 1864.[2] He owned a publishing house in Istanbul where he published many periodicals and newspapers.[3]
Mehmet Tahir had close connections with Sultan Abdulhamit.[3] In 1898, he was awarded a medal by the Sultan[1] and given a higher imperial rank, rütbe.[4] In addition, he was also appointed clerk at the palace.[3]
He published newspapers in Egypt which featured articles opposing the Ottomans.[3] These publications were, in fact, fabricated by him to blame the Young Turks and to create further tensions between Sultan Abdulhamit and the group.[3] In 1900, another conflict occurred because of the news published in his papers Malumat and Servet.[4] The papers accused the Dutch colonial rule of being hostile to the Muslims living in the Dutch East Indies, including Java.[4] Upon these news the Dutch ambassador Wilhelm Ferdinand Heinrich von Weckherlin sent a note to the Sultan demanding the cancellation of these publications.[4] The request of the Dutch was followed for a while, but the news continued from 1901.[4] Mehmet Tahir's another improper journalistic activities were the publication of his newspapers without paying the tax stamps and the licences.[4] He also involved in the illegal patent business and sold them to Europeans.[3] Although he was not punished for these illegal operations for a while[4] in 1907 he was arrested and sent to exile in Tripoli.[3] Next year he could return to Istanbul following the constitutional revolution.[3]
Mehmet Tahir was married to Fatma Şadiye Hanım who was among the contributors of Hanımlara Mahsus Gazete.[1][5] He died in Paris, in 1912, aged 48 or 49.[6])