They had succeeded in persuading Dr. Abdullah Bey (1801-1974), an Austrian-born Ottoman surgeon, to establish a Red Cross Society in Istanbul at a medical symposium in Paris.

The emergence of the Young Turks led to the gradual appropriation of Turkish society for nationalist protests and official sponsorship.

Humanitarian and patriotic reasons were more important to the surgeons who took part in medical missions than religious ones.

Notably, Kızılay was one of the few organizations that the nascent Turkish Republic inherited from the Ottoman Empire.

It was founded on December 20, 1947, by the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.