The ‘new’ Turkish Lira notes and coins were introduced on 1st January 2009 but the Turkish Central bank allowed circulation of the ‘old’ notes for one year. That deadline is now approaching so what should you do?

New bank notes were introduced on 1 January 2009 when Turkey marked the return to designating its currency as the Turkish Lira (TL) rather than the new Turkish Lira (YTL).

A time scale of 1 year was determined by the Turkish Central Bank to work all of the old notes out of the system and the banks have been collecting the ‘old’ money to replace it with the new during 2009.

From 1st January 2010 the old notes will no longer be legal tender and only the Ziraat Bank and the Turkish Central Bank will be authorised to change the ‘old’ money for new.

So if you have any old notes hanging around make sure you use them or change them soon to prevent a special journey to the local branch of the Ziraat Bank.

You can tell if a note or coins are of the new type by checking your money with the images here.

If you have the old money stuffed under the mattress, in a tin or you are out of the country don’t worry.

The Turkish Central Bank has allowed the exchange of the old bank notes for a period of up to 10 years and coins 1 year.