It was built between 1967 and 1987 in the Kocatepe quarter in Kızılay, and its size and prominent situation have made it a landmark that can be seen from almost anywhere in central Ankara.

On December 8, 1944, Ahmet Hamdi Akseki, the vice-president of Turkish Religious Affairs, along with seventy-two founding members, established a society known as the "Society to Build a Mosque in Yenişehir, Ankara."

In 1956, through the efforts of the late Adnan Menderes, Prime Minister of the time, land was allocated for the project to build a mosque in Ankara, and a request for projects was made once again in 1957.

After a third architectural competition in 1967, a more conservative design by Hüsrev Tayla and M. Fatin Uluengin was chosen.

It was inspired by the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, as well as the Shehzade and Sultan Ahmet mosques in Istanbul, which in turn, were influenced by the Eastern Roman architecture of the Hagia Sophia.