Aram Karamanukyan was born in 1910 in the city of Ayntap. He remains the only Armenian in the Middle East to have received the highest military awards not only in Syria but also in Lebanon, Egypt, and France.
During the Armenian Genocide, Karamanukyan’s family managed to find refuge in the city of Aleppo in Syria. In 1932, Aram brilliantly graduated from the Damascus Military Academy, after which he went to study at the Paris High School of Artillery.
In 1947, the president of independent Syria approved Karamanukyan’s candidacy for the position of the chairman of the military committee on army reform. In 1948, Karamanukyan was one of the commanders of the Syrian army during the first Arab-Israeli war. In 1949, Karamanukyan was appointed the commander-in-chief of the artillery corps of the Syrian army.
Karamanukyan was one of the main patrons of the Armenian community in Syria. He has allocated significant sums of money for the construction of churches and schools, as well as has contributed to the establishment of numerous local Armenian newspapers.
