 She was the daughter of a "kadi" (an Ottoman judge) and according to sources she spent most of her life in and near Amasya, in Anatolia.Documentation places her as a member of the literary circle of Prince Ahmed, the son of Sultan Bayezid II.The myth that has grown up around her states that she “fell in love many times but insists that all these loves were chaste and innocent, and that she led a life of unremitting virtue.” Lewis notes that though described as both “beautiful and ardent, she remained unmarried.”

She is referred to as "Sappho of the Ottomans".