Fahri Korutürk was born in 1903 in Istanbul, at Sultanahmet neighborhood behind Hagia Sophia. In 1916 he went to the Navy school, then finished the Navy Highschool in 1923 and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1933. He served the Navy with different ranks and stationed as a naval military attaché in Rome, Berlin and Stockholm.
Fahri Koruturk attended the Straits Conference in Montreux in 1936 as a military expert. He was promoted to Admiral in 1950 and served as a commander in different locations until he reached the rank of a four-star admiral, then became the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. After the military coup of 27th of May 1960, he resigned from his duty in July and went into pension as a civilian. He was sent to Moscow and then to Madrid as the Turkish Ambassador afterwards.
In 1968 Fahri Koruturk became a member of the Republic Senate, and in 1973 was elected by the Parliament as the sixth President of the Turkish Republic, in which he served between 6th of April 1973 - 6th of April 1980. After his term, Turkey had some troubled times with the fighting between right and left wings and went into political crisis, which led to the military coup of 12th of September 1980.
Fahri Koruturk married with Mrs. Emel in 1944 and had three children. He died on 12th of October 1987 in Istanbul and buried in the State Cemetary in Ankara.