Ahmet Vefik Pasa

Born July 6, 1823, in Istanbul; died there Apr. 2, 1891. Turkish writer and statesman.

Ahmet Vefik was the son of an official and an engineer by education. He worked as a translator in the Foreign Ministry. He took government posts starting from 1848. He was the author of some comedies written under the influence of Molière and was one of the first to translate Voltaire, Féné-lon, Molière, and Hugo into Turkish. He translated and wrote commentaries on Family Tree of the Turks (1864) of Abulgazi, wrote an extensive preface to the works of ibn-Khaldun, and wrote works on the history of Turkish folklore.