Eshab-ı Kehf Cave, also known as Ashab-ı Kehf Cave or Seven Sleepers' Cave, (Turkish: Eshab-ı Kehf Mağarası, Ashab-ı Kehf Mağarası or Yedi Uyurlar Mağarası) is a show cave situated to the north of Tarsus, an ilçe (district) in Mersin Province, Turkey.
The cave is named after the Persian word اصحاب کهف ("Ashāb-i Kahf") itself from the Arabic "aṣḥāb al-kahf", "people of the cave", for the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, a belief in Christian and Islamic tradition.
The exact location of the Seven Sleepers' cave is not known, and there are many other contenders to the title,[1] including some in Turkey.
[2] Next to the cave, there is a mosque commissioned by the Ottoman sultan Abdülaziz (reigned 1861–1876) and built in 1873.
The mosque's tall minaret with three şerefes (balconies) were added later.