The newspaper supported the Turkish War of Independence.
Articles written by modern Turkey's founder Atatürk were published anonymously by the newspaper.
İleri became the voice of the Turkish national movement in Istanbul.
However, in 1920, the newspaper's founder, Celal Nuri, was arrested by the English in Istanbul and sent into exile.
The newspaper was published a total of 2436 issues until 2 December 1924.