In 1840 during the Ottoman Empire period, Sultan Abdülmecit put into circulation the “Kaime-i Nakdiye-i Mutebere”, which means “paper used as money”. These papers were more like “interest-bearing debt securities” or “treasury bills” than “banknotes". In their early periods, Kaime banknotes were each handmade and stamped with the official seal. However, since people's confidence in paper money was low as they could easily be forged, Kaime banknotes started to be printed in printing plants from 1842 onwards. In 1863, the Ottoman Empire granted the privilege of issuing banknotes to the Ottoman Bank, which was founded as an English-French partnership, for a 30-year period. During the First World War, the Ottoman Bank rejected the government’s demands for issuing loans and new banknotes. Therefore, the Ottoman government started issuing new banknotes against gold and German treasury bills in 1915. These banknotes were called “Evrak-ı Nakdiye” and remained in circulation until the end of 1927 as the Republic did not have the means to issue banknotes in its early years.