Takvim-i Vekayi in the context of "Edict of Gülhane"

Le Moniteur ottoman was a newspaper written in French and first published in 1831 on the order of Mahmud II. It was the first official gazette of the Ottoman Empire, edited by Alexandre Blacque at the expense of the Sublime Porte. Its name perhaps referred to the French newspaper Le Moniteur Universel. It was issued weekly. Mahmud II wished to influence Europeans. Takvim-i Vekayi was published a few months later, intended as a translation of the Moniteur into Ottoman Turkish.

The 1864 Vilayet Law (Ottoman Turkish: ولایت نظامنامه‌سی, Vilâyet Nizamnâmesi, French: Loi des Vilayets ), also known as the Provincial Reform Law, was introduced during the Tanzimat era of the late Ottoman Empire. This era of administration was marked by reform movements, with provincial movements led largely by Midhat Pasha, a key player in the Vilayet Law itself. The Vilayet Law reorganized the provinces within the empire, replacing the medieval eyalet system.

Its date of initial publication in the Gregorian calendar was 8 November 1864, and the Turkish date was 7 Cümadelahir (Djem. II) or Jumaada al-Akhir (Jumada al-Thani) 1281. The law was modified in 1867. The Ottoman Turkish version was first published in Takvim-i Vekayi No. 773, and was published in Düstur Volume I, pages 517–538, and the 1867 version was printed in the Düstur Volume I, pages 608–624. The Greek version was published in Оθωμανικοί Κώδηκες ("Othōmanikoi kōdēkes", meaning "Ottoman Codes", with Demotic Greek using "Οθωμανικοί κώδικες"), page 2911. The French version was published in Législation ottomane, published by Grégoire Aristarchi Bey, Volume II, page 273.

On 11 November 1914, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed V proclaimed holy war against the Entente powers and appealed for support from Muslims in Entente-controlled countries. The declaration, which called for Muslims to support the Ottomans in Entente-controlled areas and for jihad against "all enemies of the Ottoman Empire, except the Central Powers", was initially presented on 11 November and published in Takvim-i Vekayi the following day. The proclamation included five fatwa or legal opinions endorsed by 29 religious authorities. Several days later, on 14 November, it was read out to large crowd outside the Fatih Mosque by Ali Haydar Efendi, the fetva emini ('custodian of the fatwa', the Ottoman official in charge of dictating tafsir on behalf of the Shaykh al-Islām).