50.000 Livres Turques

The Dette Publique Ottomane — the Ottoman Public Debt Administration — was a semi-autonomous body established by the Muharrem Decree of 1881, effectively ceding control of key Ottoman revenues to European creditors. That it was still issuing paper currency during the First World War reflects the extraordinary fiscal deterioration of the empire by 1916, when conventional banking infrastructure had largely collapsed and the government was scraping for any workable instrument of exchange.

The 50,000 Livres denomination is among the highest in the wartime DPO series, pointing directly to the severe inflation grinding through the Ottoman economy in the final years of the war. Notes of this value were instruments of desperation, not confidence.