During the first months of World War I, he worked with local Ottoman officials to de-escalate rising tensions until mid-April 1915, when Turkish forces laid siege to the city.

In May 1918, he helped organize[10] the defense against the advancing Turkish army, which was effectively stopped at the Battle of Sardarabad, preventing the complete destruction of the Armenian nation.

Aram Manukian was born Sargis Hovhannisian[13][f] on 19 March 1879, either[14] in Zeyva village in Zangezur (modern-day Davit Bek, in Armenia's Syunik Province)[15][16] or in Shushi, the largest city of Karabakh at the time.

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.

[23] 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.

An important event occurred in September, when Cevdet, the radical brother-in-law of Minister of War Enver Pasha, was appointed governor.

"[32] In Van city, local prominent Armenians, such as Aram Manukian (Sergei Hovhannisian, 1879–1919), one of the principal Dashnakist leaders there, sought to calm the public—Armenian and Turk alike—through negotiations with the governor.

In late March and early April, Cevdet, Aram Manukian, Vramian and other major figures met to discuss the tensions.

On the night of 16 April, Ishkhan, who was assigned a mediator's role, was killed by a group of Circassians while staying in a Kurdish friend's house in a nearby village.

The American missionaries in Van, Dr. Clarence Ussher and Miss Grace Knapp, who were eyewitnesses to these events, provide us details that leave little doubt as to the vali's [Cevdet] intentions.

Kévorkian suggests, [Armenians] knew that they were doomed if they obeyed; yet, if they failed to, they would provide the vali with the pretext he needed to attack the city's Christian quarters and the rural areas.

[37] We are alone and we must rely only on our own strength—both for the protection of the front and for the establishment of order in the country.Between October 21, 1917 and April 14, 1918 Manukian edited the newspaper Ashkhatank (Աշխատանք, "Labor") in Yerevan.

Miller writes that the "choice was well calculated, for the hero of Van was a veteran organizer, fully aware of the strengths and shortcomings of his people."

His 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.

[48][49] According to Hovannisian, "even after the cabinet had begun to function in the capital, [there were] many who believed that Aram Manukian, the Minister of Interior, operated as a virtual dictator.

Aram's impatience with the fetters of parliamentary government was evident, and, under the conditions then existing in Armenia, it was not difficult to find ample justification for strong centralized control or even a dictatorial regime.

I know what Aram was for Yerevan, but anyway, when we took out the coffin from his home, what I saw outside woke me up from the impact of the great loss and amazed me: wherever you looked, it was a human sea, in the street, on the roofs, windows, balconies, everything was occupied.

From the church of Peter and Paul until the cemetery, the funeral carriage was empty: they were carrying the coffin on their shoulders and the carriers were mainly the Armenians from Van, who were particularly fond of Aram.

[60][61] In 1979 a group of Armenian patriots found Aram's tombstone and in August 1982 put a khachkar made by Garnik Amirjanyan on it.

"[65] As a result of the 70-year-long anti-Dashnak propaganda in Soviet Armenia, Aram Manukian and other key ARF members who played major roles in modern Armenian history were largely discredited and forgotten.

[66] Aram Manukian is now almost universally considered the founder of the First Republic, including by historians Richard G. Hovannisian,[g] Gerard Libaridian,[67] Armen Asryan,[8] Amatuni Virabyan,[10] and Levon Shirinyan.

[68] Historian Harutyun Turshian described him as "one of the few realist figures in Armenia's entire history" and opined that "a distance in time is necessary to see his greatness and correctly evaluate him.

Although he described Manukian as a "strong, energetic, active, and influential person among the masses", however, he "lacks understanding of the state, a broad view", and a "sense of legitimacy".

To symbolize the revival of Armenian statehood, the initial declaration of the independence of Armenia from the Soviet Union on 23 August 1990 was read by Aram Manukyan, a member of the parliament who was chosen only because he bore the same name as the founder of the First Republic.

[74] Scholar-turned-political activist Rafael Ishkhanyan highly praised Aram Manukian in his 1989 essay "The Law of Excluding the Third Force", written at a time of the Soviet Union's disintegration and the national awakening associated with the Karabakh movement.

[75] His son, Avetik Ishkhanyan, a human rights activist, also highly praised Aram Manukian as the "greatest and most powerful politician of modern Armenian history."

[66] Modern leading ARF politician Vahan Hovhannisyan stated in 2008 that Aram Manukian is the best example in Armenian history of a statesman that "stood by the people.

"[76] 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.

[81] The ARF-affiliated Yerkir Media criticized the Armenian government, saying: "Find another nation, which pays tribute to the founder of their statehood by a bust, yet alone before the police headquarters, just because Aram Manukian was the Minister of Internal Affairs of the First Republic.

[62][94][83] According to reporter Tatul Hakobyan, the house is owned by the Swiss-Armenian businessman Vartan Sirmakes, who is the CEO of the watchmaking company Franck Muller and founder of ArmSwissBank.