Raffi Hovannisian

Raffi K. Richardi Hovannisian (Armenian: Րաֆֆի Կ. Ռիչարդի Հովհաննիսյան; Western Armenian: Րաֆֆի Կ. Ռիչարդի Յովհաննէսեան; 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. Official biography Archived 2015-10-02 at the Wayback Machine