Scunner, you are right as the noughts are irrelevant when calculating the value of the currency. The decrease in the value is not the number of noughts but the fact that the TL in 2005 was worth 3.5% of its value 10 years earlier. The value of the TL against the dollar went from 45000TL in 1985 to the dollar to 1,350,000TL by 2005.In 1995 100 dollars got you 4,500,000TL.Ten years later 4,500,000TL got you 3 dollars.
The gold standard was a farce and linking currencies to gold was never going to work and it never worked. It was one of the greatest causes of instability in the markets.The greenback is still the major currency of the world and none of the new nations like germany and China have not replaced it. It is the currency that is used to price commodities. The price of oil is linked to it. North sea crude is priced in dollars and not sterling.