Aram Manukian §

Born Sargis Hovhannisian in Zeyva (Old Shirakavan), Persia, in 1879; joined the ARF as a teenager and adopted the nom de guerre "Aram". Sent to Van in 1903 as the local ARF organiser, he co-led the Armenian self-defence of Van against Cevdet Bey's forces from 7 April to 17 May 1915, one of only two successful Armenian wartime resistances, and briefly governed the city under Russian arms before the Russian retreat that summer doomed the population. Returned to the Caucasus and became the dominant ARF figure in Yerevan during the chaos of spring 1918; effectively led the Armenian National Council that issued the 28 May 1918 declaration of independence and served as the new republic's Interior and Military Affairs Minister, holding the state together through the May–July 1918 emergency. Died of typhus in Yerevan on 29 January 1919 at age 39; reburied in 2000 at Yerablur. Widely regarded as the operational founder of the First Republic.