Gülbahar did not leave any writings, letters, or a diary. In the absence of such first-person accounts, we are fortunate to have her foundation as documentation of her life and worldview, as her achievements, which have not been fully recognized by past scholars, deserve our attention. The buildings Gülbahar endowed in perpetuity reveal her personality and interests. First, she clearly cared for Trabzon’s disadvantaged. Her soup kitchen kept the hungry fed; her school educated children for free; and the library she built offered knowledge to all who cared to enter.
