Otomatik Kontrol Türk Milli Komitesi (TOK) was founded in May 1958 as the “Turkish Automatic Control Association” within the framework of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), and became a member of IFAC at that time. It was initially established by Prof. M. Münir Ülgür and Prof. Dr. Mehmet Nimet Özdaş at Istanbul Technical University (ITU), and later became more comprehensive after the publication of the regulation in the Official Gazette on May 2, 1990, which gave it its current name.

The first president of TOK was Prof. M. Münir Ülgür, with Prof. Dr. Nusret Kürkçüoğlu serving as vice president and Prof. Dr. Mehmet Nimet Özdaş as secretary.

TOK is one of the 49 national member organizations (NMOs) of IFAC, which is a multinational organization spread across five continents. The NMOs that make up IFAC are composed of national committees in Africa, America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and Europe, and TOK is one of the 30 national committees in Europe.

The idea of creating an international organization in the field of automatic control was born at the International Automatic Control Conference held in Heidelberg, Germany in September 1956, organized by the German VDI/VDE-Fachgruppe Regelung- technik. At the end of the conference, a committee chaired by French Professor Victor Broida prepared a draft regulation for the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC). This draft regulation was revised and approved by vote at the First General Assembly held in Paris on September 12, 1957, and American Professor Harold Chesnut was elected as the first president of IFAC.

Representatives from the United States, Germany, Austria, Belgium, China, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union, Turkey, and Yugoslavia were present at the Constitutive Assembly.

IFAC’s top-level management is the IFAC Council, which derives its governing authority from the General Assembly composed of the National Member Organizations (NMOs). The Council consists of the IFAC president, two vice presidents, the president of the next term, the immediate past president, the treasurer, and 12 members, for a total of 18. The General Assembly holds its regular meetings during the IFAC World Congress, which is held every three years, and reviews, discusses, approves, and directs the activities of the Council.

TOK has been active for over 50 years in national and international scientific events and has been working to assist those working in the field of automatic control and automation.