20 Piastres Law of 6 August AH1332

The Law of 6 August AH1332 (1916) authorized a significant expansion of Ottoman paper currency as the empire's gold reserves collapsed under the strain of the First World War. Germany supplied printing assistance, and these lower-denomination notes were intended to reach everyday commerce — markets, soldiers' pay, small transactions — in a way the larger denominations could not. Talaat Pasha, who signed here in his capacity as Acting Finance Minister, was simultaneously serving as Interior Minister, one of the three Pashas effectively running the empire.

Chronic depreciation meant these circulated hard. Worn survivors are the rule, not the exception.