The agency, established in 1994, was part of Feza Publications, which also owned Zaman newspaper and Aksiyon, a weekly news magazine.
On July 27, 2016, the agency was closed under a statutory decree during the state of emergency after the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt, due to its alleged links with the Gülen movement.
Some of the channels, which co-operated with Cihan were CNN International, BBC, NBC, MTV, CBS, ABC, Al-Jazeera, Abu Dhabi TV, ARD, ZDF, SAT 1, TF1, Canal +, RAI, TVE, Antena 3, TV2 Denmark, Nos Tv, MJTV, NTV Japan, KBS, NTV Russia, TV6, IRIB, MEGA Channel, Bloomberg, MSMBC, ANS, Lider Tv[citation needed].
Cihan News Agency had correspondents in Central Asia, the Middle East, the Balkan States, Europe, South America, Africa and the Far East, totaling 25 offices and 37 correspondents in different countries[citation needed].
Maintaining permanent offices in hot spots like Gaza, Arbil and Kabul, Cihan broadcast live and dispatched recordings from these countries to international media organisations[citation needed].