page_title: Occupation of Western Armenia
section_title: Formation, 1915
hierarchical_section_title: Occupation of Western Armenia / History / Formation, 1915
caption_attribution_description: English: Armenia, divided between the Russian and Ottoman empires.
context_page_description: The occupation of Western Armenia by the Russian Empire during World War I began in 1915 formally ended by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. It was sometimes referred to as the Republic of Van by Armenians. Aram Manukian of Armenian Revolutionary Federation was the de facto head until July 1915. It was briefly referred to as "Free Vaspurakan". After a setback beginning in August 1915, it was re-established in June 1916. The region was allocated to Russia by the Allies in April 1916 under the Sazonov–Paléologue Agreement.
  From December 1917, it was under Transcaucasian Commissariat, with Hakob Zavriev as the Commissar, and during the early stages of the establishment of First Republic of Armenia, it was included with other Armenian National Councils in a briefly unified Armenia.
  This provisional government relied on Armenian volunteer units, forming an administrative structure after the Siege of Van around April 1915. Dominant representation was from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. Aram Manukian, or "Aram of Van," was the administration's most famous governor.
context_section_description: The conflict began on April 20, 1915, with Aram Manukian as the leader of the resistance, and it lasted for two months.  In May, the Armenian battalions and Russian regulars entered the city and drove the Ottoman army out of Van.
caption: 6 Armenian provinces of Western Armenia and boundaries between countries before World War I
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