Ardan Zentürk was born in 1955 in Üsküdar, Istanbul. His father, Dr. Neşet Adnan Zentürk, was a writer for the leading newspapers and magazines of the period, in addition to his profession as a doctor.
Ardan Zentürk completed his primary education at Marmara College (Istanbul), and his middle and high school education at Eskişehir Maarif College. He graduated from Marmara University, Faculty of Administrative Sciences, Department of Political Science, Department of Foreign Policy in 1979, and completed a one-year master's degree at Istanbul University, Department of Political Science.
He completed a significant portion of his in-service training with the TV management course he took at Drake University. In the meantime, he attended short-term courses related to his profession at organizations such as Georgetown University's Institute of Strategic Research and Oxford University's Institute of Central Asian Studies.