yeten was born in 1910 at vodina, in the salonica vilayet of the ottoman empire (present-day greece). his father, a major in the ottoman army moved his family of six children to i̇stanbul, settling in the beşiktaş district when yeten was a year old. in 1914, yeten's father was killed in the battle of the dardanelles. yeten went on to attend military high school, as his two elder brothers did before him.