Aram Manukian

Aram Manoukian

Aram Manoukian ( Armenian Արամ Մանուկեան Aram Manukean , born March 19, 1879 in Zeyva, today David Bek , Sjunik Province ; † January 29, 1919 ), also known as Aram Pascha or Aram von Van , was an Armenian revolutionary, politician and general who headed the Van resistance and later became Minister of Interior of the Democratic Republic of Armenia . He is seen as the political, military and spiritual leader of the Armenian people during the Ottoman genocide of the Armenians .

Early years

Manukjan was born in 1879 under the name Sarkis Hovanessian as the youngest of five children in the village of Zeyva (now David Bek) near Kapan in the Elizabethpol Governorate of the Russian Empire . His father Harutjun was an armorer, his mother Sona a housewife. He received his primary education in Shuschi , the largest city in Nagorno-Karabakh at the time . From 1895 he went to study at the diocesan school, where he joined the Dashnaks (ARF). In 1903 Manukjan was involved in the defense of Gandsak and Kars . His attempt to supply the fedayeen in Sassun with weapons was canceled due to illness. In the autumn of 1904 Manukian made a first trip to Van via Persia , where he supported reforms. In 1911 he traveled to Geneva , where he stayed for a year before returning to Van and becoming the ARF director of the region.

Aram Manoukian as governor of Western Armenia

In Van Manukian worked as a teacher for schools in the Armenian community and supported Armenian youth groups. Another Armenian accused him of having been involved in the murder of the Mayor of Van Bedros Kapamajian in December 1912 and was therefore arrested by the Ottoman authorities . He later went to Erzurum and Ordu to practice his teaching profession . With the beginning of the First World War and the genocide of the Armenians in 1915, he returned to Van. He led the successful resistance against the attacking Ottoman soldiers and was a co-founder of the short-lived Republic of Van . Manukian served as its provisional governor from May 19 to July 31.

National Council

After the conquest of Van by Ottoman troops, Aram Manukian moved to Tbilisi in Georgia , worked in the ARF party office and the newly established national committee . He dealt with the problem of the refugees from Van. In November 1917 he became head of the Congress of the Eastern Armenians . Until November 15, 1918 he was also chairman of the Karabakh Council. Between October 31, 1917 and April 14, 1918, Manukian also wrote for the newspaper Aschchatank (Աշխատանք, "work").

Politicians after independence

In 1918, the National Committee sent Manukian to the Yerevan Region as an authorized representative. Here he organized the defense at the Battle of Sardarapat , which slowed the Turkish attack (which took place in disregard of the Armistice of Ersindjan ) on the newly created independent Armenia and stopped the advance to Yerevan. Manukjan became the first Minister of the Interior of Armenia on November 15, 1918 in the five-member cabinet of Howhannes Kachasnuni . After the death of Minister Khachatur Kartschikian, Manukian was also appointed Minister of Labor on November 15 ; He stayed in both until December 13, 1918.

In December 1918 he fell ill with typhus , which he contracted in a refugee camp, died in 1919 at the age of 40 and was buried in the Tochmach Central Cemetery in Yerevan. He had been married to Katarine Salian since 1917 , with whom he had a daughter, Seda.

Web links

Commons : Aram Manukian  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Short biography of Manukian ( Memento from May 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive )

literature

• Justin A. McCarthy : The Armenian Rebellion at Van (Utah Series in Turkish and Islamic Studies.) The University of Utah Press, 2006, ISBN 0-87480-870-7 .