Turkish lira

Turkish lira
Türk lirası (Turkish)
1 Coin
ISO 4217 code	TRY (TRL was used before 2005)
Central bank	Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey
Website	www.tcmb.gov.tr
User(s)	Turkey Northern Cyprus
Inflation	7.31% CPI, 1.88% PPI January 2013
Source	Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey
Subunit
1/100	Kuruş
Symbol
Coins
Freq. used	5kr, 10kr, 25kr, 50kr, 1
Rarely used	1kr
Banknotes
Freq. used	5, 10, 20, 50, 100
Rarely used	200
Printer	CBRT Banknote Printer
Website	www.tcmb.gov.tr
Mint	Turkish State Mint
Website	www.darphane.gov.tr
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The Turkish lira (Currency sign: (until 1 March 2012: TL); Turkish: Türk lirası; ISO 4217: TRY) 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.

The monetary policy adopted to maintain price and financial stability by using required reserve ratios and interest rate corridor since recent global economic crisis, while industrial production decreased. Economy of Turkey highly relies on hot money.

History

Ottoman era

Main article: Ottoman lira

Ottoman lira remained in circulation until the end of 1927.

First Turkish lira

After periods pegged to the British pound and the French franc, a peg of 2.8 Turkish lira = 1 U.S. dollar was adopted in 1946 and maintained until 1960, when the currency was devalued to 9 Turkish lira = 1 dollar. From 1970, a series of hard, then soft pegs to the dollar operated as the value of the Turkish lira began to fall.

• 1966 — 1 U.S. dollar = 9 Turkish lira
• 1980 — 1 U.S. dollar = 90 Turkish lira
• 1988 — 1 U.S. dollar = 1,300 Turkish lira
• 1995 — 1 U.S. dollar = 45,000 Turkish lira
• 2001 — 1 U.S. dollar = 1,650,000 Turkish lira
• 2005 — 1 U.S. dollar = 1.29 new Turkish lira (The use of New Turkish lira, which drops 6 zeros from the currency Turkish lira, was implemented in 2005)
• 2010 — 1 U.S. dollar = 1.55 Turkish lira
• 19 October 2012 — 1 U.S. dollar = 1.79 Turkish lira

The Guinness Book of Records ranked the Turkish lira as the world's least valuable currency in 1995 and 1996, and again from 1999 to 2004. The Turkish lira had slid in value so far that one original gold lira coin could be sold for 154,400,000 Turkish lira before the 2005 revaluation.

Second Turkish lira

Exchange rate evolution compared to USD, EUR, JPY, GBP and Ottoman lira

since 2005.

•                      January 2005 : 100 = $74 / April 2012 : 100 = $57                      January 2005 : 100 = €55 / April 2012 : 100 = €43                      January 2005 : 1 = ¥76 / April 2012 : 1 = ¥46                      January 2005 : 100 = £39 / April 2012 : 100 = £35                      January 2005 : 1000 = 6.45 Ottoman lira / April 2012 : 1000 = 1.55 Ottoman lira

In late December 2003, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey passed a law that allowed for redenomination by the removal of six zeros from the Turkish lira, and the creation of a new currency. It was introduced on 1 January 2005, replacing the previous Turkish lira (which remained valid in circulation until the end of 2005) at a rate of 1 second Turkish lira (ISO 4217 code "TRY") = 1,000,000 first Turkish lira (ISO 4217 code "TRL"). With the revaluation of the Turkish lira, the Romanian leu (also revalued in July 2005) briefly became the world's least valued currency unit.

In the transitional period between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2008, the second Turkish lira was officially called Yeni Türk Lirası (New Turkish lira). It was officially abbreviated "YTL" and subdivided into 100 new kuruş (yeni kuruş). With effect from 1 January 2009, the "new" was removed from the second Turkish lira, its official name becoming just "Turkish lira" again, abbreviated "TL".

Currency sign

Main article: Turkish lira sign

Symbol of the Turkish lira

Ankyra coin from Roman emperor Gallienus period. Name of Ankara, capital city of Turkey meaning Anchor in Greek (Ἄγκυρα).

The current currency sign of Turkish lira was created by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey in 2012. The new sign was selected after a country-wide contest. The new symbol, created by Tülay Lale, is composed of the letter L shaped like a half anchor, and embedded double striped letter T angled at 20 degrees.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the new symbol on 1 March 2012. At its unveiling, Erdoğan explained the design as "the anchor shape hopes to convey that the currency is a 'safe harbor' while the upward facing lines represent its rising prestige".

In May 2012, the Unicode Technical Committee accepted the encoding of a new character U+20BA TURKISH LIRA SIGN for the currency sign, which was included in Unicode 6.2 released in September 2012.

External images

Design Limits of Turkish Lira Sign (ref)

Coins

Main article: Coins of Turkey

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.

Current Turkish lira coins [1]
Image		Value (kuruş)	Technical parameters					Description				Date of
Obverse	Reverse		Diameter (mm)	Thickness (mm)	Mass (g)	Composition		Edge	Obverse		Reverse	first minting	issue
		1	16.5	1.35	2.2		70% Cu, 30% Zn	Plain	Value, Crescent-star, year of minting	Snowdrop	"TÜRKİYE CUMHURİYETİ", Mustafa Kemal Atatürk	2008	1 January 2009
		5	17.5	1.65	2.9		65% Cu, 18% Ni, 17% Zn			Tree of life
		10	18.5		3.15					Rumi motif
		25	20.5		4			Reeded		Kufic calligraphic
		50	23.85	1.9	6.8		Ring: 65% Cu, 18% Ni, 17% Zn Center: 79% Cu, 17% Zn, 4% Ni	Large reeded		Bosphorus Bridge and Istanbul silhouette
		100 (1 )	26.15		8.2		Ring: 79% Cu, 17% Zn, 4% Ni Center: 65% Cu, 18% Ni, 17% Zn	inscribed, T.C. letters and tulip figure		Rumi motif
These images are to scale at 2.5 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the coin specification table.

Banknotes

Main article: Banknotes of Turkey

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. The dominant color of the 5 Turkish lira banknote has been determined as “purple” on second series of current banknotes.

Current Turkish lira banknotes [2]
Image		Value	Dimensions (mm)	Main Colour		Description			Date of issue
Obverse	Reverse					Obverse	Reverse	Watermark
		5	130 × 64		Brown	Mustafa Kemal Atatürk	Aydın Sayılı, diagrams of solar system, atom, ancient cave and a left-handed Z-DNA helix.	Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Value	1 January 2009
					Purple				8 April 2013
		10	136 × 64		Red		Cahit Arf, Arf invariant, arithmetic series, abacus, binary		1 January 2009
		20	142 × 68		Green		Architect Kemaleddin, Gazi University main building, aqueduct, circular motif and cube-globe-cylinder symbolizing architecture
		50	148 × 68		Orange		Fatma Aliye Topuz, flower and literary figures
		100	154 × 72		Blue		Buhurizade Itri, notes, instruments and Mevlevi figure
		200	160 × 72		Violet		Yunus Emre, Yunus's mausoleum, rose, pigeon and the line "Sevelim, sevilelim" (Let us love, let us be loved)
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre.

See also

• Economy of Turkey
• Economy of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
• Banknotes of Turkey
• Coins of Turkey
• Turkish lira sign
• Ottoman lira

Further reading

• Krause, Chester L., and Clifford Mishler (1991). Standard Catalog of World Coins: 1801–1991 (18th ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 0873411501. 
• Pick, Albert (1994). Standard Catalog of World Paper Money: General Issues. Colin R. Bruce II and Neil Shafer (editors) (7th ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87341-207-9. 
• Sevket Pamuk (2000). A Monetary History of the Ottoman Empire. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-44197-8. 

External links

• Turkish Central Bank (Banknote Museum page)
• Turkish State Mint
• Turkish lira official changeover Campaign
• Detailed information on the Turkish lira banknotes and coins in circulation since 2009
• Turk Numismatics

Preceded by: Ottoman lira Ratio: 1 Ottoman lira = 140 (first) lira[citation needed]	Currency of Turkey October 29, 1923 – December 31, 2004 Note: (First)	Succeeded by: (Second) Turkish lira (called "New Turkish lira" January 1, 2005 – December 31, 2008) Reason: inflation Ratio: 1,000,000 (first) Turkish lira = 1 (second) Turkish lira
Preceded by: (First) Turkish lira Reason: inflation Ratio: 1,000,000 (first) Turkish lira = 1 (second) Turkish lira	Currency of Turkey January 1, 2005 – Note: (Second)	Succeeded by: Current

Current TRY exchange rates
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