Turkey’s currency
Turkey’s currency came to light the 1st of January 2005. The currency is YTL which is short for Yeni Türk Lirasi, translated to English “the new Turkish lira.” They have also a smaller currency unit called YKR, (Yeni Kurus). The 31st of January 2004 the Turkish government passed a vote that permitted the abolishment of the six zeros which were used on the old currency, the Turkish lira.

On the 1st of January 2009 there was a currency reform, the currency changed from the earlier lira which had been hit by high inflation through the years, to Turkish lira, Türk Lirası (TL). When the name changed it was 1 TRL to a 1,000,000 old lira (currency code TRL). Just before the change the currency stood at 1 million. The Lira was worth around 0.55 euro and 5 SEK and it was then valued the worst currency in the world even though there have been worse valued currencies.

Money in Turkey:

There is:

One coin: 1 lira (TL)

One small coin: 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 Kurus

One note: 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 TL

Turkish notes with the portrait of Ataturk

Approximately currency exchange rates:

1 GBP = 2.38 TL
100 GBP = 237.8 TL
1 TL = 0.42 GBP
100TL = 42 GBP

Currency in Turkey
A visit to a restaurant at that time could have cost you around 5-30 million TRL. However the new lira has held a steady rate against the euro, since the 1st of January 2009 the currency is once again called the Turkish lira (TL).

The Turkish lira which is the currency used in Turkey is shortened to TL which stands for Türk Lirası. The Turkish currency is also used in the Turkish Cypriot part of Cyprus.

The currency is given out by the Central bank known as Türkiye Cumhuriyet Merkez Bankası (TCMB). It was founded in 1932 and then replaced the previous Ottoman bank. TCMB was reorganized in 1970, its main offices are found in Ankara today.

Since 1926 all of the currency notes have the portrait of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on them. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded the modern Turkey and was the first president from the 29th of October 1923 until his death in 1938.

Ataturk carried out a big reform, which put Turkey on the western way of living, he introduced the Latin alphabet and many religious offices were abolished. He also modernized the Turkish language from the Arabian and Persian influences. Turkish became the language used in schools. Ataturk even changed the prayer call to the Turkish language but this changed back after his death. Ataturk was the leader for the Republican Peoples’ Party in Turkey and is still today a great symbol for the modern Turkey.