Exchange Currency
Turkish lira
The Turkish lira is the currency of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (recognised only by Turkey). The Turkish lira is subdivided into 100 kuruş.
All obverse sides of current banknotes and reverse sides of current coins have portraits of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Historical banknotes from the second, third and fourth issues have portraits of İsmet İnönü on the obverse side. This change done according to 12 January 1926 dated official gazette and canceled by Democrat Party after World War II.
As Seleucid power waned, the Attalid kings began issuing their own coins as did other minor kingdoms and cities. Although the Romans conquered Turkey in the first century BC, they allowed Greek silver issues to continue. Roman and Greek coins circulated in the west while Parthian and Sasanian coins circulated in the east. Regular meeting of Roman coins began in the second century.
After Byzantium succeeded Rome, its coins circulated in Turkey until 1453. The Byzantine coinage was based on the gold solidus or nomisma. Silver coinage was less important, though silver siliquae and miliarensis circulated with 1 solidus = 12 milarenses = 24 siliquae. ANastasius I (491-518) reformed the currency, introducing large copper nummi with 1 follis equal to 40 nummi. Initially there was 180 foles to the solidus, but by the ninth century it took 288 folles to get one solidus. Alexius I Comnenus (1081-1108) reformed Byzantine coinage introducing the gold hyperpyron, equal to 3 electrum aspron trachy or 48 base-silver aspron trachy.
Constantinople was captured during the Fourth Crusade of 1204 and the Byzantines set up an empire in exile with its capital at Nicaea in northwestern Turkey. In 1261 Michael VIII Palaeologus of Nicaea, recaptured Constantinople and his dynasty ruled it until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Andronicus II (1282-1328) introduced a new silver coin, the basilikon, based on the Venetian grosso. After 1350, no gold coins were produced and the solidus was replaced by the starvation equal to half a hyperpyron. Initially, Islam failed to make any deep incursions into Turkey, but the Seljuk Turks conquered most of Anatolia following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. The Turks issued copper coins in imitation of Byzantine coins. Coins were also issued by the Crusaders in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, by Cilician Armenia between 11878 and 1271, by the Seljuks of Rum in the thirteenth century, by the Artuqids in Diyarbakir (1098-1232) by the Zengids in northern Iraq (1127-1222) and by the Ayyubids of Syria in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries.
The Mongol invasions weakened the Seljuks and forced the Ottomans west, eventually leading to the fall of Byzantium. The Seljuk Sultanate disintegrated; in the 14th century the Ottoman State emerged, and soon expanded by the means of conquest. The Ottomans and the Qarakhanids (1256-1483) based their early coins on Ilkhanid issues.
In 1453 the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople and turned it into Istanbul, the capital of their Ottoman Empire. At its height in the late 1500s, the Ottoman Empire included most of the Balkans, a large portion of Hungary in central Europe, and most of the Middle East and North Africa. After the reign of Sultan Süleyman I the Magnificent (1494-1566), the Ottoman Empire began to decline. After World War I, the new Turkish government ruled in Anatolia (Asian Turkey) between 1920 and 1922 under Mustafa Kemal while the Ottoman ruler maintained a small territory around Constantinople. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1922, the Turkish state was founded on November 1, 1922, and became a republic on October 29, 1923.
The Piastre (XOTP) was the main currency in the Ottoman Empire until 1881. The Ottoman Lira (Livre, Pound) was divisible into 100 Piastres (Gurush) or 4000 Paras. There were numerous other subdivisions for smaller coins, and different monetary systems existed in different parts of the Ottoman Empire. The different countries that were part of the Ottoman Empire should be consulted for local variations on the Ottoman monetary system.
Between 1839 and 1920, the government and the Ottoman Bank periodically issued banknotes. The government issued banknotes during the Serbo-Turkish war (1876-1878) and World War I, creating inflation. Between August 28, 1876 and March 12, 1880 the Paper Lira depreciated by almost 90%. The Banque Ottomane Impériale had a monopoly right of issue beginning on June 3, 1863. The Ottoman Empire adopted the gold standard on January 6, 1881 and created the decimalized Ottoman Empire Gold Lira (XOTG) with 1 Lira divisible into 100 Piastres or 4000 Paras. Officially, all foreign coins were banned in 1883 (Ottoman Empire, circular of 25 January 1883), though they were later accepted in the far African and Asian reaches of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey went off the gold standard on August 3, 1914 and began issuing Paper Liras or Evrak-? Nakliye (XOTP), which were theoretically backed by German Treasury Notes, but the paper Lira steadily depreciated against the gold Lira. Government notes depreciated to 5.51 paper Ottoman pounds per gold Ottoman pound in November 1917. In 1920, government notes had depreciated to about 6.80 Turkish paper liras per gold lira; Ottoman Bank notes had depreciated to about 3 paper liras per gold lira. These continued to circulate until 1927. The Turkish Lira replaced the Ottoman Empire Paper Lira in 1926.
Banknotes were issued by the Treasury of the Ottoman Empire from 1840 until 1878, by the Imperial Ottoman Bank from 1863 until 1918, by the Ministry of Finance from 1926 until 1931, and by the Central Bank of Turkey beginning in October 1931. The central bank opened in Istanbul on December 26, 1931 and took over note issue from the Ottoman Bank on March 1, 1935, upon the expiration of Ottoman Bank's concession under the 1925 law. The Ottoman Bank became an ordinary commercial bank, through its notes continued to circulate until March 31, 1948.
On January 1, 2005, Turkey replaced the old Lira with a New Lira equal to 1,000,000 old Lira.
All obverse sides of current banknotes and reverse sides of current coins have portraits of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Historical banknotes from the second, third and fourth issues have portraits of İsmet İnönü on the obverse side. This change done according to 12 January 1926 dated official gazette and canceled by Democrat Party after World War II.
Summary info
Summary information about Turkish lira- ISO 4217 Code:
- TRY
- Currency sign:
- Country:
- Republic of Turkey, Northern Cyprus
- Subunit:
- Kuruş
- Coins:
- 1 Kuruş, 5 Kuruş, 10 Kuruş, 25 Kuruş, 50 Kuruş, 1 Turkish lira
- Banknotes:
- 5 Turkish lira, 10 Turkish lira, 20 Turkish lira, 50 Turkish lira, 100 Turkish lira, 200 Turkish lira
- Central bank:
- Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey
History
The first coins were issued in Lydia in present-day Turkey in the late seventh century BC. These coins were made of electrum, an alloy of gold and silver, and were basically blobs of metal punch marked on one side. The Lydian king Croesus (c. 560-547 BC) is said to have issued the first coins of pure gold or silver, though many believe these coins were issued after the Persian conquest of Lydia in 547. Coins soon spread throughout the Persian Empire. When Alexander the Great (336-323 BC) conquered the Persian Empire, his gold and silver coins were produced throughout the Persian Empire both by him and his Hellenistic successors.As Seleucid power waned, the Attalid kings began issuing their own coins as did other minor kingdoms and cities. Although the Romans conquered Turkey in the first century BC, they allowed Greek silver issues to continue. Roman and Greek coins circulated in the west while Parthian and Sasanian coins circulated in the east. Regular meeting of Roman coins began in the second century.
After Byzantium succeeded Rome, its coins circulated in Turkey until 1453. The Byzantine coinage was based on the gold solidus or nomisma. Silver coinage was less important, though silver siliquae and miliarensis circulated with 1 solidus = 12 milarenses = 24 siliquae. ANastasius I (491-518) reformed the currency, introducing large copper nummi with 1 follis equal to 40 nummi. Initially there was 180 foles to the solidus, but by the ninth century it took 288 folles to get one solidus. Alexius I Comnenus (1081-1108) reformed Byzantine coinage introducing the gold hyperpyron, equal to 3 electrum aspron trachy or 48 base-silver aspron trachy.
Constantinople was captured during the Fourth Crusade of 1204 and the Byzantines set up an empire in exile with its capital at Nicaea in northwestern Turkey. In 1261 Michael VIII Palaeologus of Nicaea, recaptured Constantinople and his dynasty ruled it until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Andronicus II (1282-1328) introduced a new silver coin, the basilikon, based on the Venetian grosso. After 1350, no gold coins were produced and the solidus was replaced by the starvation equal to half a hyperpyron. Initially, Islam failed to make any deep incursions into Turkey, but the Seljuk Turks conquered most of Anatolia following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. The Turks issued copper coins in imitation of Byzantine coins. Coins were also issued by the Crusaders in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, by Cilician Armenia between 11878 and 1271, by the Seljuks of Rum in the thirteenth century, by the Artuqids in Diyarbakir (1098-1232) by the Zengids in northern Iraq (1127-1222) and by the Ayyubids of Syria in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries.
The Mongol invasions weakened the Seljuks and forced the Ottomans west, eventually leading to the fall of Byzantium. The Seljuk Sultanate disintegrated; in the 14th century the Ottoman State emerged, and soon expanded by the means of conquest. The Ottomans and the Qarakhanids (1256-1483) based their early coins on Ilkhanid issues.
In 1453 the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople and turned it into Istanbul, the capital of their Ottoman Empire. At its height in the late 1500s, the Ottoman Empire included most of the Balkans, a large portion of Hungary in central Europe, and most of the Middle East and North Africa. After the reign of Sultan Süleyman I the Magnificent (1494-1566), the Ottoman Empire began to decline. After World War I, the new Turkish government ruled in Anatolia (Asian Turkey) between 1920 and 1922 under Mustafa Kemal while the Ottoman ruler maintained a small territory around Constantinople. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1922, the Turkish state was founded on November 1, 1922, and became a republic on October 29, 1923.
The Piastre (XOTP) was the main currency in the Ottoman Empire until 1881. The Ottoman Lira (Livre, Pound) was divisible into 100 Piastres (Gurush) or 4000 Paras. There were numerous other subdivisions for smaller coins, and different monetary systems existed in different parts of the Ottoman Empire. The different countries that were part of the Ottoman Empire should be consulted for local variations on the Ottoman monetary system.
Between 1839 and 1920, the government and the Ottoman Bank periodically issued banknotes. The government issued banknotes during the Serbo-Turkish war (1876-1878) and World War I, creating inflation. Between August 28, 1876 and March 12, 1880 the Paper Lira depreciated by almost 90%. The Banque Ottomane Impériale had a monopoly right of issue beginning on June 3, 1863. The Ottoman Empire adopted the gold standard on January 6, 1881 and created the decimalized Ottoman Empire Gold Lira (XOTG) with 1 Lira divisible into 100 Piastres or 4000 Paras. Officially, all foreign coins were banned in 1883 (Ottoman Empire, circular of 25 January 1883), though they were later accepted in the far African and Asian reaches of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey went off the gold standard on August 3, 1914 and began issuing Paper Liras or Evrak-? Nakliye (XOTP), which were theoretically backed by German Treasury Notes, but the paper Lira steadily depreciated against the gold Lira. Government notes depreciated to 5.51 paper Ottoman pounds per gold Ottoman pound in November 1917. In 1920, government notes had depreciated to about 6.80 Turkish paper liras per gold lira; Ottoman Bank notes had depreciated to about 3 paper liras per gold lira. These continued to circulate until 1927. The Turkish Lira replaced the Ottoman Empire Paper Lira in 1926.
Banknotes were issued by the Treasury of the Ottoman Empire from 1840 until 1878, by the Imperial Ottoman Bank from 1863 until 1918, by the Ministry of Finance from 1926 until 1931, and by the Central Bank of Turkey beginning in October 1931. The central bank opened in Istanbul on December 26, 1931 and took over note issue from the Ottoman Bank on March 1, 1935, upon the expiration of Ottoman Bank's concession under the 1925 law. The Ottoman Bank became an ordinary commercial bank, through its notes continued to circulate until March 31, 1948.
On January 1, 2005, Turkey replaced the old Lira with a New Lira equal to 1,000,000 old Lira.
Coins
From 1 January 2009, the phrase "new" was removed from the second Turkish lira, its official name in Turkey becoming just "Turkish lira" again; new coins without the word "yeni" were introduced in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 kuruş and 1 Turkish lira. Also, the center and ring alloys of the 50 kuruş and 1 Turkish lira coins were reversed. Furthermore it must be remembered that the Turkish lira of today is one million fold of old Turkish lira which was used before the year 2005.Banknotes
A new series of banknotes, the "E-9 Emission Group" entered circulation on 1 January 2009, with the E-8 group ceasing to be valid after 31 December 2009 (although still redeemable at branches of the Central Bank until 31 December 2019). The E-9 banknotes refer to the currency as "Turkish lira" rather than "new Turkish lira", and include a new 200 Turkish lira denomination. The new banknotes have different sizes to prevent forgery. The main specificity of this new series is that each denomination depicts a famous Turkish personality, rather than geographical sites and architectural features of Turkey.TRY banknotes pictures gallery
| 5 Turkish lira | |
|---|---|
| Banknote of 5 Turkish lira has dimensions 130×64 mm and main colors are desert sand, beaver, rose taupe, khaki, pale taupe, pale gold, desert sand and linen. The banknote of 5 Turkish lira was issued in 2009. | |
 Obverse side of the 5 Turkish lira is showing an effigy of President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938) and the crescent moon and star from Turkish flag. |
 Reverse side of the 5 Turkish lira is showing the portrait of Ord. Prof. Dr. Aydin Sayili (1913-1993), the diagrams of solar system and symbols of atom and DNA. |
| 10 Turkish lira | |
|---|---|
| Banknote of 10 Turkish lira has dimensions 136×64 mm and main colors are puce, pale chestnut, mountbatten pink, pastel pink, lavender blush, thistle and almond. The banknote of 10 Turkish lira was issued in 2009. | |
 Obverse side of the 10 Turkish lira is showing an effigy of President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938) and the crescent moon and star from Turkish flag. |
 Reverse side of the 10 Turkish lira is showing the portrait of Ord. Prof. Dr. Cahit Arf (1910-1997), the Mathematical motifs consisting of a section of Cahit Arf "Arf Invariant" as well as arithmetical progressions, an abacus, numbers and figures that represent the binary system, which is the basis of computer technology. |
| 20 Turkish lira | |
|---|---|
| Banknote of 20 Turkish lira has dimensions 142×68 mm and main colors are tea green, grullo, pastel gray, platinum, isabelline, white smoke and beige. The banknote of 20 Turkish lira was issued in 2009. | |
 Obverse side of the 20 Turkish lira is showing an effigy of President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938) and the crescent moon and star from Turkish flag. |
 Reverse side of the 20 Turkish lira is showing the portrait of architect Mimar Ahmet Kemaleddin Bey (1870-1927), a sketch of Gazi University presidential building (which is one of the architects masterpiece), arches of aqueduct, circular motifs and forms such as a cube, sphere and cylinder depicting the three-dimensional structure of architecture. |
| 50 Turkish lira | |
|---|---|
| Banknote of 50 Turkish lira has dimensions 148×68 mm and main colors are desert sand, pale chestnut, tan, light taupe, champagne, banana mania, seashell, papaya whip and moccasin. The banknote of 50 Turkish lira was issued in 2009. | |
 Obverse side of the 50 Turkish lira is showing an effigy of President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938) and the crescent moon and star from Turkish flag. |
 Reverse side of the 50 Turkish lira is showing the portrait of Fatma Aliye Topuz, flower and literary figures. |
| 100 Turkish lira | |
|---|---|
| Banknote of 100 Turkish lira has dimensions 154×72 mm and main colors are pastel blue, pale aqua, blue gray, pale cerulean, moonstone blue, splashed white and platinum. The banknote of 100 Turkish lira was issued in 2009. | |
 Obverse side of the 100 Turkish lira is showing an effigy of President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938) and the crescent moon and star from Turkish flag. |
 Reverse side of the 100 Turkish lira is showing the Buhurizade Itri, notes, instruments and Mevlevi figure. |
| 200 Turkish lira | |
|---|---|
| Banknote of 200 Turkish lira has dimensions 160×72 mm and main colors are turkish rose, lilac, opera mauve, opera mauve, mulberry, lilac, pastel pink, snow and piggy pink. The banknote of 200 Turkish lira was issued in 2009. | |
 Obverse side of the 200 Turkish lira is showing an effigy of President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938) and the crescent moon and star from Turkish flag. |
 Reverse side of the 200 Turkish lira is showing the portrait of Yunus Emre, Yunus' mausoleum, rose, pigeon and the line "Sevelim, sevilelim" (Let us love, let us be loved). |
Useful links
- About Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey:
- Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey
- List of currencies:
- Currencies
- Security and design features of TRY banknotes:
- TRY banknotes
- TRY currency on Wikipedia:
- Turkish lira
- Official Website of Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey:
- www.tcmb.gov.tr
- Commemorative coins:
- Commemorative Coins