Raffi Hovannisian

Raffi K. Richardi Hovannisian (; ; born 20 November 1959) is an Armenian politician, the first Foreign Minister of Armenia and the founding leader of the national liberal Heritage party. He is the founder of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies, the country's first independent research center. Hovannisian, a descendant of Armenian genocide survivors, was born in Fresno, California to a family of professors. He moved to Armenia with his family in 1990 and was appointed as the first Minister of Foreign Affairs of the newly independent Armenia by then-President Levon Ter-Petrosyan. In 2002, Hovannisian founded the Heritage party, which won 6% of the popular vote in the 2007 parliamentary election. In 2013, Hovannisian was one of the seven candidates at the presidential election and came in second with 37% vote. He claimed victory due to alleged electoral fraud. In days following the election, protests took place both in Yerevan (Freedom Square in particular) and other cities and towns throughout Armenia. Hovannisian urged Sargsyan to accept "people's victory" and concede his defeat. Hovannisian called the movement 'Barevolution', a portmanteau of 'barev' (բարև, 'hello') and 'revolution', referring to his habit of walking up to people and greeting them during the election campaign. The protests gradually faded by April of that year. Early life and education Raffi Hovannisian was born in Fresno, California, on 20 November 1959, to Richard Hovannisian and Vartiter Hovannisian (née Kotcholosian), both children of Armenian genocide survivors. Raffi Hovannisian attended the Palisades Charter High School in Los Angeles, from where he graduated in 1977. In his youth years Hovannisian was a member and later a leader of the California chapter of the Armenian Youth Federation, which is the youth organization of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.