The akçe or akça (also spelled akche, akcheh; Шаблон:Lang-ota; Шаблон:IPA-tr, in Europe known as asper) refers to a silver coin which was the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. The word itself evolved from the word "silver or silver money", this word is derived from the Turkish ak ("white") and the diminutive suffix -ça.[1] Three akçes were equal to one para. One-hundred and twenty akçes equalled one kuruş. Later after 1687 the kuruş became the main unit of account, replacing the akçe. In 1843, the silver kuruş was joined by the gold lira in a bimetallic system.[2] Its weight fluctuated, one source estimates it is between 1.15 and 1.18 grams.[3] The name akçe originally referred to a silver coin but later the meaning changed and it became a synonym for money.
The mint in Novo Brdo, a fortified mining town in the Serbian Despotate rich with gold and silver mines, began to strike akçe in 1441 when it was captured by the Ottoman forces for the first time.[4]
The Suleiman Mosque in Istanbul is said to have cost 59 million akçe when it was constructed in the 1550s. This amount is said to have equalled 700,000 ducats in gold (probably Venetian).
