Banknote Printing Process

In Türkiye, the printing and circulation of banknotes are carried out by the Issue Department and the Banknote Printing Plant functioning under the Central Bank of Türkiye.

The Central Bank decides to issue a banknote with a new denomination to:

Meet the cash need of the Turkish economy,
Replace old and damaged banknotes with new ones,
Put into circulation clean banknotes,
Remedy physical and technical problems.

Banknote printing, which is in the Central bank’s responsibility, is a detailed production process composed of three stages. These stages are preparation before printing, printing and post-printing.

1. Preparation before Printing

At this stage, expert graphic designers first design the elements to appear on the obverse and reverse sides of banknotes. While designing these elements, the graphic designers try to reflect the society’s cultural, artistic and scientific values and geographical beauties of the country.

After the design process, the printing plates are produced. Materials to be used during the printing stage such as paper, ink and necessary chemical components are procured.

2. Printing

The design elements from the preparation stage as well as the serial and registration numbers of banknotes are printed on paper sheets by the machines at the Banknote Printing Plant.

3. Post-Printing

The printed paper sheets are exposed to a list of quality checks to make sure that the banknotes are clean and error-free.

After the inspections, the clean sheets are sent to the cutting machines and sheets are cut into banknotes. Then banknotes are bundled and packed, and imperfect banknotes are destroyed. The stacks are handed over to the Issue Department.

The banknotes are put into circulation by the Central Bank via its 21 branches and 16 banknote depots established in cities with no branches.