Matild Manukyan

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Matild Manukyan (1914 - February 17, 2001) was a wealthy Turkish woman of Armenian descent who made her fortune as a brothel owner in Istanbul before entering the real property business.

She was born in 1914 to an aristocratic Armenian family in Istanbul. After finishing the French language-high school for girls (Notre Dame de Sion School), she opened an haute couture atelier for Istanbul's socialites. Soon, she lost her husband and had to live alone with her son.

Manukyan leased the buildings she inherited from her father in the red-light district of Karaköy neighbourhood in Istanbul to brothel owners. In the following years, she increased her ownership to 14 licensed brothels. She was once accused of employing underage prostitutes.

She invested her opulent earnings from the sex business into real property. Manukyan was the top taxpayer in Istanbul for five consecutive years during the 1990s and received an award for that by the revenue authority. She displayed her collection of certificates and recognition items she received from the authorities in her home in Şişli that she called the "M&M Museum".

In an interview, she revealed that she owns around 70 business centers and 500 apartments in Istanbul, 200 in Yalova, three five-star hotels in Antalya and Alanya, 10 villas in Girne, Northern Cyprus and a factory in Istanbul in the export business. She also noted that she was building a hotel in Germany with 100 beds. She also ran a fleet of around 220 taxis.^[1] Luxury items owned by Manukyan included a Rolls-Royce car, four top model Mercedes and BMW cars, and an 18 m yacht in the Kalamış Marina in Istanbul.

Manukyan died on February 17, 2001 in Istanbul, and was buried in the Armenian Cemetery of Şişli following the funeral at the Üç Horon Armenian Church in Beyoğlu. Her only heir is her son Kerope Çilingir, who grew up in the United States.

[edit] Trivia

On September 28, 1995, Matild Manukyan was seriously injured on her left leg in a firearm attack, which originally targeted her security guard and driver.
Manukyan (played by Ahu Tuğba) was featured in a 2006 TV miniseries named Meçhule Gidenler (literally Those Who Go to Uncertainty) directed by Bülent Pelit. The series has not been broadcast yet.^[2]