Istanbul Rotary Club was founded on February 8, 1956 as the first Rotary Club in Istanbul and with Oğuzhan R. Koraltan as its president. Rıfat Bereket, İsmail Hakkı Kutbay, Kazım Taşkent, Eli Rosenthal, Hilmi Naili Barlo and John A. Caouki are the founding members of the club.

It is the largest Rotary Club in our country as well as one of Europe's three largest. Our club has 250 members. These members are valued and respected representatives of various areas of business in our country.

Among our Club’s members are international businessmen, scientists and diplomats who are expats in Istanbul. Istanbul Rotary Club is the only Rotary Club in our country where the addresses in the weekly meetings are simultaneously interpreted from Turkish into English during the meeting.