Yahya Efendi, one of the most important scholars, poets and sufis of the 16th century, was born in 1495. His father was Sami Ömer Efendi and his mother was Afife Hatun. It is stated in the references that Afife Hatun breastfed Shahzadah Süleyman (Kanuni SultanSüleyman) and Yahya Efendi and Kanuni Sultan Süleyman were “milkbrothers”. Yahya Efendi, who worked as a professor in Sahn-1 Seman Madrasa, gained areputation in the
fields of medicine and geometry besides Islamic Sciences.
Yahya Efendi had a mosque, a tawhidhane, a madrasa, a Turkish bath, a fountain and an Islamic Ottoman complex and houses constructed. Sultan Selim had Mimar (Architect) Sinan construct the Turbe of Yahya Efendi in 1571 on behalf of Yahya Efendi. The turbe has a square plan and is opened into the complex with its arched entrance. While the western and eastern walls of the turbe have retained their original form with the window layout in accordance with the classical style of the period, the middle window opening on the south front has been kept wider and the mosque-tomb relationship had been made clear. The dome of Baghdadi, hidden under a wooden roof, covers the structure. The dome was constructed during the repairs in 1873. The turbe is decorated with mother of pearl inlaid grids that encloses the sarcophagus, dated to the reign of Sultan Abdulhamid II and hand drawns on the dome borders. On the wall facades, there are also prayers which werewritten in Ottoman Turkish, that was emerged during the restoration work. In the turbe, Yahya Efendi, his family and 11 members of the Ottoman dynasty family were buried.
In addition, a turbe was built in 1620-1621 for Güzelce Ali Pasha, one of the Ottoman grand viziers during the period of Sultan II. This turbe is square planned which was covered with a dome and there are 6 marble sarcophaguses in the turbe, one of them belongs to Güzelce Ali Pasha