Matild Manokyan, Turkey’s best-known madam whose 32 brothels made her Istanbul’s top taxpayer for several years running, has died at age 84, her family said. Manokyan, who survived a bomb attack in 1995, died in her sleep Friday afternoon at her home in Istanbul.
A member of Istanbul’s Armenian minority, Manokyan started out as a seamstress before entering the prostitution business. She used profits from her brothels to finance a real estate empire that included dozens of shopping malls and apartment buildings.
Prostitution is legal in Turkey, which is predominantly Muslim but has a secular government. The government declared her Istanbul’s top taxpayer for five years in a row in the early 1990s.
She was honored for her taxpaying record at official ceremonies as
an expression of gratitude from the Turkish government, which has
struggled to stem widespread tax evasion. In 1995, she caused a
storm by donating some $36,000 for the renovation of an Istanbul
hospital. Conservative professors started a campaign to reject the
money, which they said had been earned through immoral means.
“I don’t understand what all this fuss is about,” Manokyan had said. A few months later, she was injured in a bomb attack outside of her home. Her driver and bodyguard were killed in the blast. Manokyan spent several months in hospital and never fully recovered from her injuries. Manokyan was survived by her son and a brother. Her funeral was scheduled for Wednesday.
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