He was the son of Abdul Kadir Bey, a member of the Karaosmanoğlu family which started to gain a reputation in the 17th century around the Manisa region.

His mother was İkbal Hanım, a woman in Ismail Pasha's palace community.

Karaosmanoğlu was the founding editor-in-chief of Tan newspaper which was launched in 1935 and served in the post until 1938.

Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu died at the Gülhane Military Medical Academy in Ankara on 13 December 1974.

His novel Yaban (Stranger, 1932) depicts the bitter experiences of a Turkish intellectual, Ahmed Celal, in the countryside after losing his arm in the Battle of Gallipoli.