
The Turkish Lira, also known as the Lira, is the official currency of Turkey. It's a widely used currency in the region.
The Lira is subdivided into 100 kuruş. This is an important fact to know when exchanging money or making transactions in Turkey.
The Lira's currency code is TRY. This is the standard three-letter code used to identify the currency in international transactions.
The Turkish Lira has undergone significant changes over the years, with a major revaluation in 2005 and a subsequent introduction of the New Turkish Lira in 2009.
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History of Lira
The second Turkish lira was introduced on January 1, 2005, replacing the previous Turkish lira at a rate of YTL 1 = TL 1,000,000.
This change was made possible by a law passed by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on January 28, 2004.
The new currency was officially called Yeni Türk lirası, which translates to "New Turkish lira" in English.
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The Turkish government introduced two new banknotes with denominations of ₺50 and ₺100 to coincide with the introduction of the new currency.
The second Turkish lira was subdivided into 100 new kuruş, or yeni kuruş.
In January 2009, the "new" marking was removed from the second Turkish lira, and it officially became known as the Turkish lira again.
All obverse sides of current banknotes have portraits of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
The reverse sides of all coins, except for ₺1 commemorative coins, also feature portraits of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
Since 2012, 9 different ₺1 circulating commemorative coins have been introduced.
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Lira Characteristics
The Turkish lira is the official currency of Turkey, and it's denoted by the symbol "₺".
It's subdivided into 100 kuruş, although the kuruş is no longer used in everyday transactions.
The lira has a rich history, with its first version introduced in 1844.
Banknotes
The new series of banknotes, known as the "E-9 Emission Group", was introduced on January 1, 2009, with the E-8 group ceasing to be valid on December 31, 2009.
Each denomination of the new banknotes has a different size to prevent forgery, and they feature a famous Turkish personality on the obverse side. The main color of the 5-Turkish-lira banknote is purple, which was determined in the second series of the current banknotes.
The E-9 banknotes refer to the currency as "Turkish lira" rather than "new Turkish lira" and include a new ₺200 denomination. The dominant color of the 5-Turkish-lira banknote has been determined as "purple" on the second series of the current banknotes.
The new banknotes have a unique feature where each denomination depicts a famous Turkish personality, rather than geographical sites and architectural features of Turkey. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is featured on the ₺5 banknote.
Here's a summary of the current Turkish lira banknotes:
Currency Sign
The Turkish lira was originally symbolised as TL, inverting the characters of the Ottoman lira's sign, LT, which stood for "Livre Turque" in French.

Historically, English language sources used "£T" or "T£" for the currency, but it's unknown whether this notation was ever used within Turkey.
The current currency sign of Turkish lira was created by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey in 2012, after a country-wide contest.
The new symbol is composed of the letter L shaped like a half anchor, and embedded double-striped letter T angled at 20 degrees.
Tülay Lale's design was chosen as the winner from a shortlist of seven submissions to the board of the Central Bank, selected from a total of 8,362 entries.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the new symbol on 1 March 2012, explaining that the design conveys the currency is a 'safe harbour' while the upward-facing lines represent its rising prestige.
The new sign was also criticized for allegedly showing a similarity with an upside-down Armenian dram sign.
In May 2012, the Unicode Technical Committee accepted the encoding of a new character U+20BA₺TURKISH LIRA SIGN for the currency sign.
On Microsoft Windows operating systems, the new currency sign can be typed with the combination AltGr+T when using Turkish-Q or Turkish-F keyboard layouts.
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Exchange and Rates
The lira is the official currency of Turkey, and its exchange rate is constantly fluctuating.
You can check the current exchange rate of the Turkish lira against other major currencies on the Turkish Central Bank's website or other financial websites.
The Turkish lira's currency code is TRY, which is used to represent the currency in international transactions.
In 2018, the Turkish lira experienced a significant devaluation, losing up to 30% of its value against the US dollar in a single day.
The exchange rate can be affected by various economic factors, including inflation, interest rates, and government policies.
The Turkish Central Bank has implemented various measures to stabilize the lira, including increasing interest rates to attract foreign investors.
The lira's exchange rate can also be influenced by global events, such as changes in global economic conditions or trade policies.
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Challenges and Issues
The Turkish lira has faced numerous challenges and issues since 2018, including a rapid decline in value. The currency's exchange rate plummeted to ₺4.5 per US dollar by mid-May 2018 and continued to deteriorate.

Economists attribute the accelerating loss of value to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's opposition to necessary interest rate adjustments. Erdoğan's unorthodox views on interest rates, which he considers "the mother and father of all evil", have hindered the Central Bank's ability to address the crisis.
The Turkish lira continued to plummet in value, deflating by over 400% compared to the US dollar and the euro since 2008. This drastic decline has had a significant impact on the country's economy.
2018–Present Crisis
The Turkish lira's exchange rate deteriorated rapidly in 2018, reaching ₺4.5 per US dollar by mid-May.
Economists attributed this loss of value to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's opposition to necessary interest rate adjustments. Erdoğan claimed interest rates to be "the mother and father of all evil", and stated that the central bank couldn't take independence from his signals.
The Turkish lira continued to plummet in value, deflating by over 400% compared to the US dollar and the euro since 2008. This was largely due to Erdoğan's expansionist foreign policy.
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In 2021, the lira partially recovered with the government's increase in interest rates, but began to crash due to inflation and depreciation 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, and became one of the quickest collapsing currencies of 2021.
Unexpected Sources of Problems with Programmers
The Turkish lira's currency code, TRY, can cause problems with computer programmers due to its similarity to the MFC's TRY/CATCH macros.
One way to avoid this collision is to rename the TRY macro, or at least avoid using it altogether.
Incorporating header files that contain definitions for currency codes can lead to bizarre compilation issues, as seen with the Windows.Globalization.CurrencyIdentifiers.TRY property.
Renaming the TRY macro is a simple solution to prevent conflicts, but if you still need to use it, you can try including the header files in the opposite order.
Temporarily undefining the TRY macro using the push_macro and pop_macro pragmas is another option, which are supported by Visual C++, gcc, and clang.
This kind of issue can be quite extensive, especially for countries with multiple currency changes, requiring a thorough search for a different final letter.
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Former Currencies
The lira currency code has a rich history, with many former currencies bearing the name. The Cypriot lira, for example, was used from 1879 to 2007 before being merged into the euro in 2008.
The French livre was another former currency, used from 781 to 1794 before becoming the French franc. The Israeli lira, used from 1948 to 1980, was replaced by the old shekel in 1980.
The Italian lira was a major currency, used from 1861 to 2002 before being merged into the euro in 1999, with notes and coins used until 2002.
The Ottoman lira, used from 1844 to 1923, became the Turkish lira. The Papal lira, used from 1866 to 1870, became the Vatican lira at par with the Italian lira.
Here's a list of some former lira currencies, along with the time period they were used:
- Cypriot lira: 1879-2007
- French livre: 781-1794
- Israeli lira: 1948-1980
- Italian lira: 1861-2002
- Ottoman lira: 1844-1923
- Vatican lira: 1866-1870 (at par with the Italian lira)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a 3 letter currency code?
A 3-letter currency code is a unique identifier consisting of the country code and the first letter of the currency name, as defined by the ISO 4217 standard. It's a concise way to represent a currency, such as USD for the US dollar.
What is the currency code for Italian lira?
The currency code for Italian lira is ITL. This code was used to represent the Italian lira in international financial transactions.
Is Turkish lira TRY or TRL?
The official currency of Turkey is the Turkish Lira (TRY), which replaced the old Turkish Lira (TRL) in 2005. 1 TRY is equal to 1,000,000 TRL.
What country code is TRL?
TRL is the currency code for Turkey.
What is the acronym for Turkish lira?
The acronym for Turkish lira is TRY. This is the official currency code for the Turkish lira, used internationally for financial transactions and exchange rates.
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