Saffet Arıkan (1888 – 24 November 1946) was a Turkish politician and former government minister.

In 1915 he fought in the Battle of Gully Ravine (Kerevizdere) during the Dardanelles Campaign.

He served briefly as the military attache of the newly founded Turkey in Moscow.

[2] Although the project began after his term in the Ministry of Education, another project called "village trainer" (Turkish:köy eğitmeni) which was the predecessor of the village institutes began in 1936 during his term in the office.

He is also known as proposing the surname Atatürk to Turkish national leader Mustafa Kemal.