1 Lira

Turkey's wartime monetary position was precarious. The country maintained formal neutrality during World War II but faced severe inflation and commodity hoarding throughout the early 1940s, forcing the central bank to issue lower denominations at higher volumes to keep daily commerce moving. The 1 Lira of 1942 belongs to that pressured period — a functional necessity, not a prestige issue.

Bradbury Wilkinson handled the printing in London despite the obvious logistical complications of wartime shipping across a continent at war. The choice reflects Turkey's long-standing reliance on British security printers, a relationship that predated the Republic itself.