Aram Manoukian was one of the main protagonists in the foundation of the first independent Republic of Armenia in 1918.

Born as Sergei (Sarkis) Hovhannisian in the village of Zeyva (nowadays David Bek, district of Kapan in Siunik) in 1879, he graduated from the Diocesan School of Shushi, in Gharabagh, one of the main Armenian schools in the region.