Para (currency) Para (currency) The para (Cyrillic: пара, from Turkish "para", from Persian "pārah", "piece" ) was a former currency of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Montenegro, Albania and Yugoslavia and is the current subunit, although rarely used, of the Serbian dinar. As a former Ottoman and Turkish currency, it was 1/40 of a "kuruş", which was, in turn, 1/100 of a Turkish lira. It was also earlier 3 "akçe" The modern Turkish lira is only divided into "kuruş". In Serbia, the "para" has been the subunit of the dinar since the 19th century. The Montenegrin perper was subdivided into 100 "pare" during
British currency in the Middle East and called δεκάρα in Greek and the -piastre coin was equal to 20 para and called εικοσάρα. The introduction of the British currency into Cyprus was controversial from its inception in 1879 as technically the island remained a province of the Ottoman Empire and the right to issue currency within the Ottoman Empire rested solely with the Ottoman Sultan. A question on the legality of introducing the pound in Cyprus was raised by the British Member of Parliament, Mr. Thomson Hankey, in the United Kingdom parliament in 1879, but concerns were dismissed by the British government, and they ceased to