Turkish lira is the national currency of Turkey. It was introduced as the Ottoman lira during the Ottoman Empire in 1844. In the early twentieth century the Ottoman lira was replaced with the Turkish lira following the Turkish War of Independence.
Ever wondered why the symbol for pounds (in terms of weight) is “lbs”? You may be surprised to learn that “pounds” and “lira” mean almost the same thing. A libra was a Latin unit of weight equivalent to the English “pound”, and we get the word lira from libra. So Turkish lira are, in a sense, Turkish pounds.
The currency of Turkey was revalued in 2005 to make its note values more manageable. In 2009, a new series of banknotes was issued which are currently in use. 1 lira is divided into 100 kuruş, which are in currency as coins.