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49-589: During the Siege of Scutari (1912–1913) the cathedral was damaged by the Montenegrin army, particularly the south east side, causing fire in the bell tower. The cathedral was closed in 1967 and reopened in 1990. The dedication of this church to Saint Stephen , the first patron saint of the city, follows that of a preexisting church with that name , now covered by the Rozafa Castle , and on whose remains

98-519: A mosque was built. Marin Barleti , a notable 16th-century Albanian writer, mentions the former church and the saint patron of the city in his Historia de vita et gestis Scanderbegi Epirotarum principis ( The story of life and deeds of Skanderbeg , the prince of Epirotes ), when he describes the Siege of Shkodra which lasted from 1478 to 25 April 1479 and saw the League of Lezhë helplessly protect

147-596: A dinner engagement and put Essad Pasha in total control of the Turkish forces at Scutari. Differences between the two men centered about the continued defense of the city. Riza Pasha desired to continue the fight against the Montenegrins and Serbs while Essad Pasha was a proponent of ending the siege by means of secret negotiations conducted with the counsel of the Russians. Essad Pasha's plan was to deliver Scutari to

196-417: A dispute because many people didn't want to be ranked in lower wealth categories. At that point, Gjon Nushi, one of the wealthiest people of the community, openly proposed to Filip Parruca, another wealthy man: "Let's finish the bell tower together, and on its wall we'll have a commemorative stone to remind posterity that it was our money to build it". This discussion was enough for the community to accept rather

245-518: A golden Obilić Medal and the nickname the knight of Brdanjolt (Serbian: витез од Брдањолта).( Serbian : витез од Брдањолта ). The Turkish and Albanian defenders of Scutari were led by Hasan Riza Pasha and his lieutenant, Essad Pasha . After the siege had continued for approximately three months, differences between the two Ottoman leaders boiled over on 30 January 1913, when Essad Pasha had two of his Albanian servants ambush and kill Riza Pasha. The ambush occurred as Riza Pasha left Essad's house after

294-406: A law that allowed for redenomination by the removal of six zeros from the Turkish lira, and the creation of a new currency. It was introduced on 1 January 2005, replacing the previous Turkish lira (which remained valid in circulation until the end of 2005) at a rate of YTL 1 ( ISO 4217 code "TRY") = TL 1,000,000 in old lira (ISO 4217 code "TRL"). With the revaluation of the Turkish lira,

343-605: Is said to have been in Vienna during the time of the marriage of Franz Joseph I of Austria , and to have managed to enter the Emperor's office. Gurash asked the Emperor for financial aid for the construction of the church. Not only was Gurash given 150 napoleons , but he was also congratulated by the Austrian Emperor for his "typically Albanian" audacity in asking that way and to an Emperor for that type of money. During

392-525: The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey in 2012. The new sign was selected after a country-wide contest. The new symbol is composed of the letter L shaped like a half anchor, and embedded double-striped letter T angled at 20 degrees. The design, created by Tülay Lale, was endorsed after a country-wide competition. It was chosen as the winner from a shortlist of seven submissions to the board of

441-575: The Romanian leu (also revalued in July 2005) briefly became the world's least valued currency unit. At the same time, the Government introduced two new banknotes with the denominations of ₺50 and ₺100. In the transition period between January 2005 and December 2008, the second Turkish lira was officially called Yeni Türk lirası ("New Turkish lira"). The letter "Y" in the currency code was taken from

490-599: The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus , as well as one of the two currencies used in northern Syria under the country's interim government . One lira is divided into one hundred kuruş . The lira, along with the related currencies of Europe and the Middle East, has its roots in the ancient Roman unit of weight known as the libra which referred to the Troy pound of silver. The Roman libra adoption of

539-538: The 2021 low of 15%. The official inflation rate of the Lira through 2022 reached 83%, but independent reviews of the Turkish lira put the inflation rate even higher. From 1 January 2009, the prefix "new" was removed from the second Turkish lira, its official name in Turkey becoming "Turkish lira" again; new coins without the word " yeni " were introduced in denominations of 1kr., 5kr., 10kr., 25kr., 50kr. and ₺1. Also,

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588-547: The Central Bank, selected from a total of 8,362 entries. The symbol resembles the first letter of the Turkish monetary unit, L , in the form of a half anchor with double stroke. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the new symbol on 1 March 2012. At its unveiling, Erdoğan explained the design as "the anchor shape hopes to convey that the currency is a 'safe harbour' while the upward-facing lines represent its rising prestige". Faik Öztrak, vice chairman of

637-527: The Congress of the Communist Women of Albania was held in the cathedral in 1973. The towers were destroyed in 1967 and the portal was boarded up. In 1990 the cathedral was reopened and on November 11, 1990, the first Mass in the country since 1967 was held in the cathedral. A symbolic Mass was held in the cathedral on March 21, 1991. In 1993 it was visited by Pope John Paul II . Legend has it that

686-652: The London Conference of Ambassadors compelled the Montenegrins to evacuate the city in May 1913. The Montenegrin army's withdrawal was hastened by a small naval flotilla of British and Italian gunboats that moved up the Bojana River and across the Adriatic coastline. An international peace keeping force ( Scutari detachment ) from five countries including Austria-Hungary, Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany

735-591: The Montenegrins and Serbs as the price for their support in his attempt to proclaim himself King of Albania. The siege, however, continued and even escalated in February when King Nikola of Montenegro received a delegation of Malësian chieftains who stated their allegiance to him and volunteered to join the Montenegrin forces with 3,000 of their own soldiers. Shortly thereafter, the Malësian chieftains joined

784-476: The Montenegrins. On 8 October 1912, Turkish General   Hasan Riza Pasha announced that Montenegro had declared war on the Ottoman Empire in order to erase 600 years of oppression by the "Turkish foot", as the enemy claimed, and that its troops were crossing the border between Montenegro and Albania. Two hours after the news, the Montenegrin troops, as expected, approached Scutari. As much as 70% of

833-637: The Turkish army in the interior of the Balkans was composed of Muslim Albanians conscripted during the freedom struggle from the Ottoman Empire. At noon, Hasan Riza Pasha gathered all his commanders in his headquarters and told them: The city will soon be surrounded, but this city will not fall into the hands of Montenegrins. Shkodra is our fate or our grave, but not our shame. Today we have five thousand troops, but over 20 thousand others are coming to our assistance. As of today begins an uphill battle, that none of us knows how long it will last The siege of Scutari

882-628: The Turkish word yeni , meaning new . It was officially abbreviated "YTL" and subdivided into 100 new kuruş ( yeni kuruş ). Starting in January 2009, the "new" marking was removed from the second Turkish lira, its official name becoming just "Turkish lira" again, abbreviated "TL". All obverse sides of current banknotes have portraits of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk . The reverse sides of all coins (except for ₺1 commemorative coins) have portraits of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Since 2012, 9 different ₺1 circulating commemorative coins were introduced. In 2018,

931-596: The US Dollar, losing nearly all of its original value . On 17 December, the lira fell by 8.5%, raising the exchange rate to ₺16.5 to the US dollar. Despite the currency collapse , Erdoğan lowered interest rates down to 14% from 15%, causing the lira to lose half of its value since the start of 2021. The Turkish Lira continued to decline throughout 2022. The central bank governor Şahap Kavcıoğlu lowered interest rates by 150 basis points , from 12% to 10.5%, down from

980-733: The army of the Kingdom of Montenegro defeated the forces of the Ottoman Empire and invaded Shkodër . In 1912, the Balkan League consisting of Serbia , Montenegro , Greece and Bulgaria had jointly declared war against the Ottoman Empire. Montenegro mobilized its troops and prepared to attack the Ottoman forces in Albania directly to the south. Behind the invasion, however, stood Montenegro's intention to expand its border at

1029-609: The background is the city of Shkodër, surrounded by Rozafa castle . An earthquake in 1905 and the bombing of 12 March 1913 during the Siege of Scutari damaged the bell tower and the clock, which had been given by the Kakarriqi brothers. In 1925, the Kakarriqi family purchased another clock which worked till 1967, when the church was transformed into a Palace of Sports following the Cultural Revolution . Ironically, even

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1078-694: The bishop's proposal. Filip Parruca , Mark Pema and Pjetër Pema purchased in Venice the bell, and had it put on the tower. Siege of Scutari (1912%E2%80%931913) Status quo ante bellum Serbian and Montenegrin front Greek front The siege of Scutari , also referred to as the siege of Shkodër ( Albanian : Rrethimi i Shkodrës , Serbian : Опсада Скадра ), known in Turkish as İşkodra Müdafaası (in Turkish) or İşkodra Savunması , took place from 28 October 1912 to 23 April 1913 when

1127-516: The castle from the Ottoman Empire army, until the castle eventually fell to Turkish hands. During the first three centuries of the Ottoman occupation, the bishops of the city were constrained to live outside the city. In 1762, 5 years after the formation Pashalik of Scutari , the first Albanian Pashalik under the Bushati family, Monsignor Pal Pjeter Kamsi was finally allowed again to reside in

1176-557: The center and ring alloys of the 50kr. and ₺1 coins were reversed. (Standard) Since 2012, the Turkish State Mint has introduced nine commemorative coins in circulation. A new series of banknotes, the "E-9 Emission Group" entered circulation on 1 January 2009, with the E-8 group ceasing to be valid after 31 December 2009 (although still redeemable at branches of the Central Bank until 31 December 2019). The E-9 banknotes refer to

1225-646: The city. In 1851, after the faithful had continuously applied for the permission from the Sultan for the building of the church, Abdülmecid I issued the decree. The dome, firstly built in wood, almost fell off 35 years after construction, so in 1897 it was replaced which other materials which last to today. In 1909, Albanian painter Kolë Idromeno coffered the vault . His paintings in the vault can still be seen today, especially that of Lady of Shkodër followed by two angels who are dressed in Shkodër folk costumes. In

1274-537: The construction of this cathedral which would be one of the biggest Catholic cathedrals in the Balkans at that time, and many local and diplomatic personalities participated at the inauguration of the construction work. Besides giving his permission for the building through a decree, Sultan Abdülmecid I had also sent 700 Turkish liras , whereas Pope Pius IX had provided 1,000 golden scudi . The first phase of construction finished in 1867, 9 years later. The cathedral

1323-449: The construction, the big arch fell twice on the ground, and the fix was made through the help of an Austrian engineer, whose name is unknown to us today. As the construction work was ending, a bell tower was still missing. Archbishop Guerini gathered the representatives of the wealthiest Catholic families. It was decided that three categories, depending on the level of wealth, would provide each 20, 15 and 10 Napoleon gold. This resulted in

1372-610: The consul of France even further, and the consuls of Russia , Greece , and even the Austro-Hungarian Empire went much further than that of the Wāli. This one, smiling under his moustache, is said to have murmured: "You probably want to put here all the Catholics of Albania". The land was given by mecenate Palok Krandja . Work commenced on 7 April 1858 after a major delay. There was a pompous ceremony on that day for

1421-418: The currency as "Turkish lira" rather than "new Turkish lira" and include a new ₺200 denomination. The new banknotes have different sizes to prevent forgery. The main specificity of this new series is that each denomination depicts a famous Turkish personality, rather than geographical sites and architectural features of Turkey. The dominant color of the 5-Turkish-lira banknote has been determined as "purple" on

1470-641: The currency spread it throughout Europe and the Near East, where it continued to be used into medieval times. The Turkish lira, the French livre (until 1794), the Italian lira (until 2002), Lebanese pound and the pound unit of account in sterling (a translation of the Latin libra ; the word "pound" as a unit of weight is still abbreviated as "lb.") are the modern descendants of the ancient currency. The lira

1519-487: The discussion on the size of the cathedral was decided upon the agreement that the size should be as long the throwing of a string from the stripes of one skinned cow. Gjergj Nikë Sheldija , who was present in that discussion, has told that the string was firstly taken into the hands of the Scutari's Wāli , who put it into his little finger and threw it. After his throwing the consul of United Kingdom threw it much further,

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1568-416: The expense of territories with an overwhelming majority of Albanians. Montenegro considered itself the successor of Zeta , a medieval Slavic realm, with Shkodër as its capital. With the transition of power from the last feudal lords Balšići or Balsha to Venetians, and eventually Ottomans, who established a city as an administrative center of the region, the "lost capital" became a symbol of oppression for

1617-428: The financial crisis with unorthodox banking methods. The Turkish lira partially recovered in early 2021 with the government's increase in interest rates. However, the currency began to crash due to inflation and depreciation starting on 21 March 2021, after the sacking of Central Bank chief Naci Ağbal . The Turkish lira reached a then-all-time-low of ₺8.8 to the dollar on 4 June. The Turkish lira became one of

1666-475: The lira's exchange rate deteriorated rapidly, reaching ₺4.5 per US dollar by mid-May and ₺4.9 a week later. Economists generally attributed the accelerating loss of value to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan preventing the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey from making necessary interest rate adjustments. Erdoğan, who claimed interest rates beyond his control to be "the mother and father of all evil", stated that "the central bank can't take this independence and set aside

1715-525: The main opposition party CHP , alleged that the new sign resembles the initials TE of then-prime minister Tayyip Erdoğan in a reference to the tughra of Ottoman sultans. The new Turkish lira sign was also criticized for allegedly showing a similarity with an upside-down Armenian dram sign . In May 2012, the Unicode Technical Committee accepted the encoding of a new character U+20BA ₺ TURKISH LIRA SIGN for

1764-536: The quickest collapsing currencies of 2021. The Turkish lira reached a new low of ₺8.9 to the dollar in September 2021. In late 2021, the Turkish lira began collapsing rapidly, with the exchange rate falling 9% against the US dollar, reaching an all-time low of ₺12.5 to the dollar. The Turkish lira continued to collapse in December, with the inflation rate reaching unseen levels, collapsing to ₺14.5 to

1813-569: The same time, Essad Pasha managed to get the support of Serbia and Montenegro for the new Kingdom of Albania , which would gain Scutari indirectly by the Great Powers. During their retreat the Montenegrin army set fire to the Grand Bazaar burning 250 shops.> The capture of Scutari by Montenegro and Serbia removed the only obstacle to a Serbian advance into Ottoman Albania . By November 1912, Albania had declared independence but

1862-403: The second series of the current banknotes. The lira was originally symbolised as TL , inverting the characters of the Ottoman lira's sign, LT , which stood for " Livre Turque " in French . Historically English language sources used "£T" or "T£" for the currency, but it is unknown whether this notation was ever used within Turkey. The current currency sign of Turkish lira was created by

1911-428: The siege, Albanian novelist Ndoc Nikaj wrote an historical novel titled Shkodra e rrethueme ("Shkodra under siege") in 1913 while Bosnian Serb poet Aleksa Šantić wrote To Essad Pasha ( Serbian : Esad Paši ), inspired by the siege of Scutari. Turkish lira The lira ( Turkish : Türk lirası ; sign : ₺ ; ISO 4217 code : TRY ; abbreviation: TL ) is the official currency of Turkey and

1960-518: The signals given by the president." Despite Erdoğan's apparent opposition, Turkey's Central Bank raised interest rates sharply. As of 2020, the Turkish lira continued to plummet in value, with the currency going through a process of depreciation , consistently reaching all-time lows. The Turkish lira deflated by over 400% compared to the US dollar and the euro since 2008, largely due to Erdoğan's expansionist foreign policy. Erdoğan has tried to fix

2009-518: The value of the Turkish lira began to fall. The following are based on yearly averages: The Guinness Book of Records ranked the Turkish lira as the world's least valuable currency in 1995 and 1996, and again from 1999 to 2004. The lira's value had fallen so far that one original gold lira coin could be sold for TL 154,400,000 before the 2005 revaluation . 28 January 2004, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey passed

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2058-619: The war by assisting in the attack of the Jubani — Daut-age tower. As Montenegro continued their siege in April, the Great Powers decided to implement a blockade of their ports , which was declared on 10 April and lasted until 14 May 1913. On 21 April 1913 approximately six months after the start of the siege, Essad Pasha offered an official proposal to surrender the city to Montenegrin General Vukotic. On 23 April, Essad Pasha's proposal

2107-408: Was 74 meters long, 50 meters wide and 23.5 meters tall. Initially the main hall had a 6,000 person capacity (with people standing up). There was a marathon for fund raising at that time: besides the contribution, which included even proceeds from sold jewelries, each Catholic family gave a worker to contribute to the construction for a period of at least 6 months. Gurash Shënkolli , a Shkodër citizen,

2156-516: Was accepted and he was allowed to leave the city with full military honors and all of his troops and equipment, except the heavy guns. He also received a sum of £10,000 sterling from the Montenegrin King. Essad Pasha surrendered Scutari to Montenegro only after its destiny had been decided, meaning after the Great Powers had forced Serbia to retreat and after it was obvious that the Great Powers would not allow Montenegro to keep Scutari. At

2205-475: Was deployed in the city and kept until the start of World War I . The International reaction to the ultimate settlement was somewhat mixed. Austria-Hungary's Foreign Minister, Count Leopold Berchtold , demanded that Scutari be evacuated by the Great Powers within 48 hours. The Kingdom of Italy supported Austria-Hungary and sent a part of the peace force. The Russian Empire supported Montenegro in its efforts to keep Scutari. And finally as cultural outcomes of

2254-425: Was initiated by the Montenegrins on 28 October 1912. The initial attack was carried out by the Montenegrin army under the command of Prince Danilo and encountered stiff resistance. As the conflict settled into siege warfare, the Montenegrins were supported by reinforcements from their Serbian allies. Radomir Vešović, a Montenegrin army officer participated in the siege where he was wounded twice, for which he earned

2303-430: Was introduced as the main unit of account in 1844, with the former currency, kuruş , remaining as a 1 ⁄ 100 subdivision. The Ottoman lira remained in circulation until the end of 1927. The banknotes of the first and second issue depict Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on the obverse side. This change was done according to the 12 January 1926 issue of the official gazette . After Atatürk's death, his portrait

2352-404: Was replaced with one of İsmet İnönü for the third and fourth issues. Atatürk returned for the fifth issue and all subsequent issues. After periods of the lira pegged to sterling and the franc , a peg of TL 2.8 = US$ 1 was adopted in 1946 and maintained until 1960, when the currency was devalued to TL 9 = US$ 1. From 1970, a series of hard, then soft pegs to the dollar operated as

2401-534: Was yet to be recognized by anyone. The Serbian army eventually occupied most of northern and central Albania, stopping north of the town of Vlorë . The Serbians also managed to trap the remains of the Army of Vardar in what was left of Albania proper, but were unable to force them to surrender. When the war was over, however, the Great Powers did not award Scutari to the Kingdom of Montenegro, rather in accordance with

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