10 Livres Turques

The Dette Publique Ottomane — the Ottoman Public Debt Administration — was a European-controlled supervisory body established following the empire's 1881 default, and its banknote-issuing role during the First World War reflects just how strained the imperial treasury had become. By 1918 the Ottoman economy was in serious difficulty: military expenditure had far outpaced revenue, and the German alliance had not delivered the financial relief Constantinople needed.

Paper quality on surviving examples of this series is frequently poor, a consequence of wartime import disruptions affecting printing supplies. The armistice came in October 1918, and notes issued that year had an exceptionally short window of legitimate circulation before the postwar settlement began dismantling the empire's financial institutions entirely.