Let me first start with a word of caution; the title might be misleading but the content of this post has no relation to ‘economics’. It’s only that as a non-participant observer I have come to realise that the Turkish community living in London often use ‘Lira’ instead of ‘sterling’ or ‘pound’ when conversing with each other, and that includes myself (!), but only when with my parents. I thought I was – or we were – the odd one(s), but surprisingly overheard other local Turks using ‘Lira’ while conversing amongst each other, especially while shopping. I’m very curious as to why this might be the case and personally interpreting this as an indication of attachment to your homeland, especially with the first generation. The second (like myself) and third generation, by contrast, are adapting their speech and probably never aware of it. This leaves me wondering then what might be the case with other expat Turks living in other countries? Do you use ‘Lira’ as well?
I met a friend in Malaysia. He also uses lira in his conversation.