BANKNOTES OF TURKEY
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Date	Pick#	Denomination	Observations	Obverse	Reverse
1997	210s	5,000,000 Lira
1998	211s	250,000 Lira
1998	212s	500,000 Lira
2002	213s	1,000,000 Lira
1999	214s	10,000,000 Lira
2000	215s	20,000,000 Lira
Banknotes denominated in New Turkish Lira (2005 - Present) The new Turkish lira is the current currency of Turkey and of the de facto state of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Introduced on 1 January 2005, it is equivalent to 1,000,000 old Turkish lira, which remained legal tender until the end of 2005, the new Turkish lira is divided into 100 new kuruş.
Date	Pick#	Denomination	Observations	Obverse	Reverse
2005	216s	1 New Turkish Lira
2005	217s	5 New Turkish Liras
2005	218s	10 New Turkish Liras
2005	219s	20 New Turkish Liras
2005	220s	50 New Turkish Liras
2005	221s	100 New Turkish Liras

Old Turkish Lira
Up until 2005 the Turkish currency was the Turkish lira or in Turkish; Türk lirası,  it was often referred to as just lira but almost always referred to as the Turkish lira outside Turkey, to avoid confusion with the better-known former Italian lira. Prices in Turkey is old lira were usually written using the abbreviation TL, which preceded the price, The ISO 4217 code for the old Turkish lira was TRL.

The gold lira was introduced in 1843, weighing 7.216 g with a fineness of 91.67%, that is, 6.6 g of gold. In a bimetallic system, it was defined as equal in value to 100 silver kuruş of 1 g of silver (1.2027 g at 83%), first minted in 1844, at a ratio of 15.09. Each kuruş was divided into 40 para. There were 5, 10, and 20 kuruş coins; the 20-kuruş coin was called a mecidiye. All coinage minted until 1922 followed these standards.

Before the lira, the monetary unit used by the Ottoman Empire was first the akçe, later to be replaced by the kuruş (piastre), with the para as a subunit (1 para being equal to 3 akçe, thus 1 kuruş equal to 120 akçe). Having begun as a large silver coin, by the late 1800s the kurus had shrunk to a small silver coin.

The Banque Imperiale Ottomane (Imperial Ottoman Bank) first issued paper currency denominated in kuruş, with values ranging from 5 to 5000 kurus. The denomination switched from kuruş to lira in the mid 1870s. Denominations ranged from 5 kuruş to 1000 lira, with the 50,000-lira banknote specially prepared to fund the issue of small change (1- and 2½-kurus) notes.

World War I saw Turkey effectively depart from the gold standard with the gold lira being worth about nine lira in paper money by the early 1920s.

The Turkish Republic replaced the older imperial Ottoman paper liras with the Turkish lira being reissued as a mid size silver coin. Turkish lira notes were also introduced in denominations of 1, 2½, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 lira. Each note carried the portrait of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

After Atatürk's death in 1938, new notes were prepared with the portrait of President İsmet İnönü. Atatürk reappeared on a subsequent series of notes in the early 1950s.

Chronic inflation from the late 1970s onward saw the Turkish lira sharply depreciate against other major currencies. The table below gives a snapshot of the decline in the value of the Turkish lira against the United States Dollar from 1933 through 2001.

The Turkish lira slid in value to such an extent that one original gold lira coin could be sold for approximately 120,000,000 Turkish lira prior to the 2005 revaluation.

In its last few years the Turkish lira stabilized and even rose against the U.S. dollar and the Euro. In December 2004, it traded at about 1,350,000 lira to 1 U.S. dollar, and about 1,850,000 lira per Euro. The Guinness Book of Records ranked the Turkish lira as the world's least valuable currency.

New Turkish Lira "Yeni Türk Lirası"
The new Turkish lira is the current currency of Turkey and of the de facto state of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Introduced on 1 January 2005, it is equivalent to 1,000,000 old Turkish lira. New banknotes were issued denominated in New Turkish Lira, the old banknotes circulated alongside the new currency for all of 2005. Old Turkish lira banknotes were legal tender until the end of 2005, and may be exchanged at the Central Bank until the end of 2015. The new Turkish lira is divided into 100 new kuruş. The ISO 4217 code for the new Turkish lira is TRY. Prices are expressed using the abbreviation YTL, which short for "Yeni Türk Lirası", Turkish for "New Turkish Lira"

Banknotes are currently issued in denominations of 1 YTL, 5 YTL, 10 YTL, 20 YTL, 50 YTL and 100 YTL. The Bank of Turkey has indicated that it has plans to issue a new 200 YTL banknote, although the new denomination is not expected for a couple of years. It is also planned to drop the word "New" from the currency name in 2009.

Coins currently in circulation come in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 new kuruş, and 1 YTL. The design of the 50 kuruş and 1 lira coins, much to the dismay of the European Central Bank, clearly resembles that of the one and two euro coins respectively. This has caused confusion in the euro zone. Also, it has caused trouble to businesses using vending machines, particularly at airports in the euro zone. Since numerous vending machines at the time accepted the 1 lira coin as a two euro coin, vending machines affected had to be quickly upgraded at the expense of the operators. Two euros is worth roughly four times more then a 1 lira coin.

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Page created:     28 August 2006
Last Update:      28 August 2006

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