42 Facts About Aram Manukian

Aram Manukian was an Armenian revolutionary, statesman, and a leading member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation party.

Aram Manukian is widely regarded as the founder of the First Republic of Armenia.

Aram Manukian rose to prominence there as a community organizer.

Aram Manukian led the successful Armenian civilian self-defense of Van.

Aram Manukian briefly served as the head of the provisional government in Van.

Aram Manukian played an important role in the establishment of the First Republic of Armenia and served as its first minister of internal affairs.

Aram Manukian died of typhus in January 1919, short of his 40th birthday.

Aram Manukian was noted for his ability to unite different sections of society for a common cause.

Aram Manukian is widely considered by scholars to be the founder of the First Republic of Armenia.

Aram Manukian was born Sargis Hovhannisian on 19 March 1879, either in Zeyva village in Zangezur or in Shushi, the largest city of Karabakh at the time.

Aram Manukian's father, Harutyun, was a gunsmith; his mother, Sona, was a housewife.

Aram Manukian received primary education at the Agulyats School in Shushi.

In 1903, Aram Manukian went to Baku where he took part in strikes and later in the Armenian resistance against the confiscation of Armenian Church properties by the Russian government.

Aram Manukian was briefly in Elisabethpol to organize the Armenian resistance there.

In September 1903, within a group of 150 men, Aram Manukian tried to cross the Russian-Turkish border to transfer weaponry to the fedayi in Sasun; however, he returned to Kars due to illness.

Aram Manukian settled in the city of Van in February 1905.

Aram Manukian soon became the head of the local party branch and sought to strengthen its influence in Van.

Aram Manukian was convinced that if Armenians were going to revolt against Ottoman rule, it needed to be a well-organized and widespread revolt and not a local one, such as the failed uprising in Sasun in 1904.

Aram Manukian engaged in community organizing and transfer of weaponry to Van from Russia and Iran.

Aram Manukian sought to minimize the Ottoman government interference in internal Armenian matters.

In 1907, during the ARF Congress in Vienna, where he was the delegate from Van, Aram Manukian expressed skepticism about the declared goals of the Turkish emigre political movements in Europe that the ARF was cooperating with, particularly the Young Turks.

However, Aram Manukian continued to work with local Ottoman officials and other Armenian parties, especially the Armenakan Party, to improve the condition of the Armenians.

Aram Manukian became the leader of the ARF in the Van region along with Ishkhan and Arshak Vramian.

Aram Manukian took an active role in the Armenian community by teaching at schools, communicating with the press and promoting Armenian youth circles.

In December 1912, Aram Manukian became a suspect in the murder of the mayor of Van, Bedros Kapamajian, an Armenian loyalist to the Ottoman government.

Aram Manukian was arrested along with several other notable ARF members "as encouragers for the murder" according to Turkish sources.

Aram Manukian played a key role in this resistance, widely seen as self-defence.

Aram Manukian had probably come to the conclusion that he could accomplish nothing in a city with an Armenian majority unless he first got rid of the three Dashnak leaders.

Between October 21,1917 and April 14,1918 Aram Manukian edited the newspaper Ashkhatank in Yerevan.

Aram Manukian was sent by the Tiflis-based Armenian National Council to head the civil administration of the city.

Aram Manukian's committee established law and order in the city by expelling several Armenian bandit groups, imposing special taxes and confiscating materiel abandoned by the Russian troops.

Between November 15 and December 13,1918, Aram Manukian acted as minister of labor after Minister Khatchatur Karchikian was killed.

Aram Manukian contracted the typhus in December 1918 when he was visiting the camps of refugees from the genocide.

The interment of Aram Manukian was an expression of great popular mourning.

Aram Manukian was initially buried at the Mler cemetery.

Aram Manukian settled in Krasnodar, Russia, but returned to Soviet Armenia in 1927 to fill the shortage of doctors.

Aram Manukian was married to the son of the prominent fedayi Khansori Vardan.

Aram Manukian is almost universally considered the founder of the First Republic, including by historians Richard G Hovannisian, Gerard Libaridian, Armen Asryan, Amatuni Virabyan, and Levon Shirinyan.

On July 17,2018 Aram Manukian's statue was officially unveiled near the Republic Square metro station in attendance of ARF leader Hrant Markarian, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, President Armen Sarkissian and Catholicos Karekin II.

Aram Manukian's bust was unveiled before the Armenian police headquarters in 2009 due to the fact that he was Armenia's first Interior Minister, which includes the police department.

In 1989 a volunteer regiment Aram Manukian was founded in the city of Ararat, which took part in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

The house, located at 9 Aram Manukian Street, is a roofless shell and "ignored" by the authorities.