Ottoman lira (1844–1923) The lira, along with the
related currencies of Europe and the Middle East, has its roots in the
ancient Roman unit of weight known as the
libra which referred to the
Troy pound of silver. The Roman libra adoption of the currency spread it throughout Europe and the Near East, where it continued to be used into medieval times. The Turkish lira, the
French livre (until 1794), the
Italian lira (until 2002),
Lebanese pound and the
pound unit of account in
sterling (a translation of the Latin
libra; the word "pound" as a unit of weight is still abbreviated as "lb.") are the modern descendants of the ancient currency. The
lira was introduced as the main unit of account in 1844, with the former currency,
kuruş, remaining as a subdivision. The Ottoman lira remained in circulation until the end of 1927.
First Turkish lira (1923–2005) . The banknotes of the
first and
second issue depict
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on the obverse side. This change was done according to the 12 January 1926 issue of the
official gazette. After Atatürk's death, his portrait was replaced with one of
İsmet İnönü for the
third and
fourth issues. Atatürk returned for the
fifth issue and all subsequent issues. After periods of the lira pegged to
sterling and the
franc, a peg of TL 2.8 = US$1 was adopted in 1946 and maintained until 1960, when the currency was devalued to TL 9 = US$1. From 1970, a series of hard, then soft pegs to the dollar operated as the value of the Turkish lira began to fall. The following are based on yearly averages: • 1960s: US$1 = TL 9 • 1970: US$1 = TL 11.30 • 1975: US$1 = TL 14.40 • 1980: US$1 = TL 80 • 1985: US$1 = TL 500 • 1990: US$1 = TL 2,500 • 1995: US$1 = TL 43,000 • 2000: US$1 = TL 620,000 • 2001: US$1 = TL 1,250,000 • 2005: US$1 = TL 1,350,000 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 lira's value had fallen so far that one original gold lira coin could be sold for TL 154,400,000 before the 2005
revaluation.
Second Turkish lira (2005–present) , breaching the mark of ₺5 per euro in early 2018 On 28 January 2004, 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 YTL 1 (
ISO 4217 code "TRY") =
TL 1,000,000 in old 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. At the same time, the Government introduced two new banknotes with the denominations of ₺50 and ₺100. In the transition period between January 2005 and December 2008, the second Turkish lira was officially called
Yeni Türk lirası ("New Turkish lira"). The letter "Y" in the currency code was taken from the Turkish word , meaning
new. It was officially abbreviated "YTL" and subdivided into 100 new (). Starting in January 2009, the "new" marking was removed from the second Turkish lira, its official name becoming just "Turkish lira" again, abbreviated "TL". All obverse sides of
current banknotes have portraits of
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The reverse sides of all coins (except for ₺1 commemorative coins) have portraits of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Since 2012, 9 different ₺1 circulating commemorative coins were introduced.
2018–present currency crisis In 2018, the lira's exchange rate deteriorated rapidly, reaching ₺4.5 per US dollar by mid-May and ₺4.9 a week later. Economists generally attributed the accelerating loss of value to
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan preventing the
Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey from making necessary interest rate adjustments. Erdoğan, who claimed interest rates beyond his control to be "the mother and father of all evil", stated that "the central bank can't take this independence and set aside the signals given by the president." As of 2020, the Turkish lira lowered in value, with the currency going through a process of
depreciation, consistently reaching all-time lows. The Turkish lira depreciated by over 400% compared to the
US dollar and the
euro since 2008, largely due to Erdoğan's
expansionist foreign policy. Erdoğan has tried to fix the financial crisis with unorthodox banking methods. The Turkish lira partially recovered in early 2021 with the government's increase in interest rates. However, the currency began to crash due to
inflation and
depreciation starting on 21 March 2021, after the sacking of Central Bank chief
Naci Ağbal. The Turkish lira reached a then-all-time-low of ₺8.8 to the dollar on 4 June. The Turkish lira became one of the quickest
collapsing currencies of 2021. The Turkish lira reached a new low of ₺8.9 to the dollar in September 2021. In late 2021, the Turkish lira began collapsing rapidly, with the exchange rate falling 9% against the US dollar, reaching an all-time low of ₺12.5 to the dollar. The Turkish lira continued to collapse in December, with the
inflation rate reaching unseen levels, collapsing to ₺14.5 to the US Dollar, losing nearly all of its original
value. On 17 December, the lira fell by 8.5%, raising the
exchange rate to ₺16.5 to the US dollar. Despite the
currency collapse, Erdoğan lowered interest rates down to 14% from 15%, causing the lira to lose half of its value since the start of 2021. The Turkish Lira continued to decline throughout 2022. The
central bank governor
Şahap Kavcıoğlu lowered interest rates by
150 basis points, from 12% to 10.5%, down from the 2021 low of 15%. The
official inflation rate of the Lira through 2022 reached 83%, but
independent reviews of the Turkish lira put the inflation rate even higher. In 2023, Erdoğan began to follow orthodox banking methods. Under the guidance of
Mehmet Şimşek and
Hafize Gaye Erkan, the central bank began to rapidly increase interest rates. By the end of the year, the interest rate stood at 42.5%, and the annual inflation rate decreased to 53.86%, down from 83% in 2022. The central bank increased the interest rate to 50% in March 2024 under
Fatih Karahan, the new governor, and has kept it as such as for eight consecutive months. This has resulted in the lira gaining value since May, when inflation peaked at 75.45%, but has decreased to 47.09% in November. The Turkish Lira has regained some valuation. Following the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul,
Ekrem Imamoglu, in March 2025,
Marketwatch reported that the Turkish lira reached a record low. The Turkish Lira began depreciating rapidly in early 2026 compared to the Euro and USD. ==Coins==