Tercüman-ı Ahvâl was established by Agah Efendi in 1860, and its first issue appeared on 22 October that year.[1][2] Ibrahim Şinasi helped him to launch the paper.[3] He also served as its editor-in-chief and argued in the first editorial that featuring only news was not enough.[4] Şinasi left the paper in 1862 to start his own paper called Tasvîr-i Efkâr.[3] Tercüman-ı Ahvâl came out three days per week, but later it appeared five times per week.[1] From the 740th issue the paper published daily except for Fridays.[1] In addition to national news, it featured news translated from The Times, La Patrie, and Levant Herald.[1] It covered political, educational and economic news and writings which were written by Ahmed Vefik Pasha, Sarı Tevfik Bey, Mehmed Şerif Bey, Refik Bey and Hasan Subhi Efendi.[1] The paper also featured literary work becoming the first Ottoman periodical in this regard.[5] From its second issue Şinasi's play entitled Şair Evlenmesi (Ottoman Turkish: Poet’s Marriage) which was the first play written in Turkish was serialized in the paper.[5][4] It also featured Şinasi's poems and French poems translated by him.[4] The first press conflict in the Ottoman Empire occurred between Tercüman-ı Ahvâl and Ceride-i Havadis.[4]
Tercüman-ı Ahvâl enjoyed higher levels of circulation.[3] However, it was temporarily banned several times.[6] The first ban was immediately after its start due to its critical approach towards the government.[6] It was again banned in May 1861 for two weeks because of its criticisms over the educational system in the Ottoman Empire.[6] The last edition of Tercüman-ı Ahvâl appeared on 11 March 1866, and it produced 792 issues during its lifetime.[1][7]