Fakihoğlu Hacı Behzat had this mosque built in 1535, during the reign of Suleiman I (the Magnificent). As a result, the whole neighbourhood (‘Behzat Çarşısı’ = Behzat’s bazaar), the nearby river (‘Behzat Çayı’) and the street where his mosque stands (‘Behzat Caddesi’ = Behzat Avenue) were named after him.
In 1881 the mosque was expanded, with a second dome and some annexes. It had to be restored after a flood in 1908 (Behzat’s river damaging his own mosque...) and again after the severe 1939 earthquake.
Hacı Behzat’s tomb lies next to the mosque.

On the picture: The prayer hall and (partly) one out of two ‘kitâbe’ (= cornerstone), written in elegant sülüs script.

The three parts of the name ‘Fakihoğlu Hacı Behzat’ have following meanings:
‘Behzat’ is the man’s first/given name;
‘Fakihoğlu’ means ‘son of Fakih’ and indicates his ancestor, the name-giver of the family (but in Ottoman times, your family had to be of some importance, to have had a name-giver);
‘Hacı’ is an honorary title, indicating he had fulfilled the ‘Haç’ (= pelgrimage to Mecca).

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.
Source: (among others) Website of ‘Yertürk - Tûrkiye’nin Doğa ve Kültür Arşivi’.