He was born in Istanbul in 1960. He studied at the Istanbul Technical University State Conservatory and after completing his studies in 1981, he got accepted at the Turkish orchestra of the State Radio in Turkey (TRT) as a Turkish rhythm and percussion performer.
His background as a percussion musician is rich in plenty of collaborations in concerts, seminars and recordings all over the world. In 1994, he established “Yarkın Türk Ritm Grubu” (Yarkın Turkish Rhythm Group) music ensemble with Ferruh Yarkın; with the given ensemble, Fahrettin Yarkın circulated 3 records named Skin (Ten), Skin on Skin (Ten’tende) and Caravanserai (Kervansaray).
Moreover, he gave numerous seminars and concerts not only in Turkey but also in most of the European countries; Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and the U.S.A., Japan, China and many Arab countries. He has given many concerts and plays on many albums with virtuous musicians, such as Kâni Karaca, Bekir Sıdkı Sezgin, Necdet Yaşar, Cinuçen Tanrıkorur, Andre Rieu, Jordi Savall, Romina Basso, Jack DeJohnette etc.
He has managed to obtain many students almost all around Europe. It is also worth mentioning that apart from all the Turkish traditional percussions, he is performing many foreign percussions as well, such as tablas, maracas etc.
He has written a book about Turkish rhythm patterns in three languages, Turkish, Greek and English; “The Usul in Turkish Music” in 2017. He still continues to play concerts and albums all over the world.