The lira was introduced in 1844. It replaced the kuruş as the principal unit of currency, with the kuruş continuing to circulate as a subdivision of the lira, with 100 kuruş = 1 lira. The para also continued to be used, with 40 para = 1 kuruş. Until the 1930s, the Arabic script was used on Turkish coins and banknotes, with پاpara,kuruş and lira ("Turkish lira"). In European languages, the kuruş was known as the piastre, whilst the lira was known as the livre in French.

Between 1844 and 1881, the lira was on a bimetallic standard, with 1 lira = 6.61519 grams pure gold = 99.8292 grams pure silver. In 1881, the gold standard was adopted and continued until 1914. World War I saw Turkey effectively depart from the gold standard with the gold lira being worth about nine lira in paper money by the early 1920s.

After periods pegged to the British pound and the French franc, a peg of 2.8 lira = 1 U.S. dollar was adopted in 1946 and maintained until 1960, when the currency was devalued to 9 lira = 1 dollar. From 1970, a series of hard, then soft pegs to the dollar operated as the value of the lira began to fall.

Chronic inflation from the late 1970s onward saw the Turkish lira sharply depreciate against other major currencies:

1966 — 1 U.S. dollar = 9 lira

1980 — 1 U.S. dollar = 90 lira

1988 — 1 U.S. dollar = 1,300 lira

1995 — 1 U.S. dollar = 45,000 lira

1996 — 1 U.S. dollar = 107,000 lira

2001 — 1 U.S. dollar = 1,650,000 lira

2004 — 1 U.S. dollar = 1,350,000 lira

2007 — 1 U.S. dollar = 1,260,000 (old) lira = 1.26 new lira

2008 — 1 U.S. dollar = 1,200,000 (old) lira = 1.20 new lira

In its last few years the Turkish lira stabilised and even rose against the U.S. dollar and the euro. The Guinness Book of Records ranked the lira as the world's least valuable currency in 1995 and 1996, and again in 1999 through 2004. The lira had slid in value to such an extent that one original gold lira coin could be sold for approximately 120,000,000 lira prior to the 2005 revaluation.

On January 1, 2005, a new currency, the Yeni Türk Lirası (YTL, ISO 4217: TRY), was introduced. The new lira was worth 1,000,000 old lira.

[source:en.wikipedia.org]