Background
Nazperver Kadınefendi was born on 12 June 1870 in Beşiktaş, Istanbul, to an Abkhazian princely family. Born as Emine Çikotua, she was the daughter of Prince Ismail Çikotua, and his wife Princess Aliye Dziapş-lpa, the daughter of Prince Mahmud Dziapş-lpa, and hence the niece of Dürrünev Kadınefendi, first wife of Sultan Abdülaziz. Through her father, she was the relative of Fatma Pesend Hanımefendi, tenth wife of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and Mihri Müşfik Hanım, a renowned Turkish female painter.
