Lira
This article is about the currencies, for the Ugandan city see Lira, Uganda.
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| Vittorio Emanuele II: 1 Italian lira 1863 | |
Lira is the name of the monetary unit of a number of countries.
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2 Turkey 3 Malta 4 Lebanon |
The Italian lira (plural lire) was the official unit of currency in Italy until January 1, 2002, when it was replaced by the euro, and it ceased to be legal tender on February 28 of that year. The conversion rate was 1936.27 lire to the euro.
The Turkish currency (TRL or TL - "Turk Lirasi"), also called the lira, is often referred to as the Turkish lira outside Turkey, to avoid confusion with the better-known (former) Italian money. It was originally divided into 100 Kurus, each of which were in turn divided into 40 Para.
In the early 1800s the lira did not yet exist, as the value of the Kurus (Piastre) enabled it to be the main unit of account, with the Para as a subunit. Having begun as a large silver coin, by the late 1800s the Kurus had shrunk to a small silver coin which equated to 1/100th of one gold lira.
The Banque Imperiale Ottomane (Imperial Ottoman Bank) first issued paper currency denominated in Kurus, with values ranging from 5 to 5000 Kurus. The denomination switched from Kurus to Lira in the mid 1870s. Denominations ranged from 5 Kurus to 1000 Lira, with the 50,000 Lira banknote specially prepared to fund the issue of small change (1 and 2.5 Kurus) notes.
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World War One saw Turkey effectively depart from the gold standard with the gold lira being worth about 9 Lira in paper money by the early 1920s.
The new 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, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 Lira. Each note carried the portrait of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
After Ataturk's death in 1938, new notes were prepared with the portrait of President Ismet Inonu. Ataturk reappeared on a subsequent series of notes in the early 1950s.
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Chronic inflation from the late 1970s saw the Turkish Lira gradually depreciate against other major currencies.
1933 - 1 US Dollar = 2 Turkish Lira.
1966 - 1 US Dollar = 9 Turkish Lira.
1980 - 1 US Dollar = 90 Turkish Lira.
1988 - 1 US Dollar = 1,300 Turkish Lira.
1995 - 1 US Dollar = 45,000 Turkish Lira.
2001 - 1 US Dollar = 1,650,000 Turkish Lira.
The Turkish Lira has since slid in value to such an extent that one original gold lira coin can be sold for approximately 120,000,000 Turkish Lira today.
In the last few years the Turkish Lira has stabilised and even risen against the US Dollar and the Euro. As of February 2004, it trades at about 1,300,000 lira to 1 US dollar.
A portrait of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk appears on all Turkish banknotes and coins. Reverse designs of banknotes vary. Present denominations include:
Banknotes:
Reverse of the Twenty Million Turkish Lira banknote
500,000 Lira - purple - Canakkale Dardanelles (Anzac) Campaign Memorial
1,000,000 Lira - pink and blue - GAP Project Dam in Southeastern Turkey
5,000,000 Lira - brown - Ataturk Mausoleum in Ankara.
10,000,000 Lira - red - Cartographer Piri Reis' map and ship.
20,000,000 Lira - green - Ruins of Ephesus.
Coins:
50,000 Lira
100,000 Lira
250,000 Lira
As from 1 January 2005 the Turkish unit will be revalued at a rate of 1,000,000 Lira for 1 New Turkish Lira (YTL - "Yeni Turk Lirasi"). The New Lira will be divided into 100 New Kurus, and issued in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 YTL notes, and 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 kurus and 1 YTL coins.
Italy
Turkey
