Karaosmanoğlu was born in Cairo in 1889, the son of Abdülkadir Bey, a member of Karaosmanoğulları family which started to gain reputation in 17th century around Manisa region, and İkbal Hanım, a woman in İsmail Paşa's palace community. Until six years old, he was raised in Cairo, after which his family moved to their homeland, Manisa. He had his primary education in Manisa, and in 1903, they moved again: this time to İzmir.
Works
His novelYaban (Stranger, 1932) depicts the bitter experiences of a Turkish intellectual, Ahmet Celal, in the countryside after losing his arm in the Battle of Gallipoli. Though categorized as naturalist, the novel has a romantic, anti-pastoral quality.
"Panorama" is another great novel of his that analyzes the political, social, economical changes during the transition from the Ottoman Empire period to the Republic of Turkey period. It is considered to be a "generation novel" as the story is based on the lives of the generations of the same family during this transitional period.
He was one of the theorists of the Kadro movement.
