The family finally settled in İzmir where Cahit Arf received his primary education.

After serving as the founding director of the council in 1963, he joined the Mathematics Department of Robert College in Istanbul.

Upon his final return to Turkey, he joined the Mathematics Department of the Middle East Technical University and continued his studies there until his retirement in 1980.

Although he had very few formal students, many of the mathematicians of Turkey, at some time of their careers, had fruitful discussions on their field of interest with him and had received support and encouragement.

Since 2006, the Arf Lecturers are invited to deliver their talks at Istanbul Center for Mathematical Sciences (IMBM), too.