1. Raffi K Richardi Hovannisian is an Armenian politician, the first Foreign Minister of Armenia and the founding leader of the national liberal Heritage party.
23 Facts About Raffi Hovannisian
1. 2.
Raffi Hovannisian is the founder of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies, the country's first independent research center.
3.
Raffi Hovannisian 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.
4.
Raffi Hovannisian urged Sargsyan to accept "people's victory" and concede his defeat.
5.
Raffi Hovannisian was born in Fresno, California, on 20 November 1959, to Richard Hovannisian and Vartiter Hovannisian, both children of Armenian genocide survivors.
6.
Raffi Hovannisian attended the Palisades Charter High School in Los Angeles, from where he graduated in 1977.
7.
Raffi Hovannisian is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley from the Department of Political Science.
8.
In October 1988, Raffi Hovannisian wrote an article for the Los Angeles Times supporting the Karabakh movement.
9.
Raffi Hovannisian was in Soviet Armenia in December 1988, when an earthquake shook northwestern parts of the country.
10.
Raffi Hovannisian was the Yerevan office director of the Armenian Assembly of America.
11.
Raffi Hovannisian gave up his United States citizenship on 23 April 2001 to be eligible to become an Armenian citizen.
12.
On January 9,2003, the Armenian court rejected Raffi Hovannisian's claims on certifying that he has been an Armenian citizen for the past 10 years, which is a requirement in running for president.
13.
On 7 November 1991 Raffi Hovannisian was appointed as the first Foreign Minister of Armenia.
14.
On March 2,1992 as the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Raffi Hovannisian raised the Armenian tricolor at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
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Raffi Hovannisian served in that position until October 16,1992, when he was forced to resign, because he and President Levon Ter-Petrosyan took two very different approaches to Armenian national issues.
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However, Raffi Hovannisian was later dismissed in 1992 from his position as Foreign Minister due to his disagreements with Ter-Petrosyan on the issue of relations with Turkey.
17.
The final straw occurred when Raffi Hovannisian chose to bring up the issue while in Istanbul in late 1992 on a state visit.
18.
Raffi Hovannisian has spearheaded the campaign to get Armenia to recognize the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
19.
In 2011, Raffi Hovannisian encouraged a more assertive Armenian foreign policy, calling for the restitution of territories from both Azerbaijan and Turkey, and support for the rights of the Armenian minority in Georgia.
20.
On 15 March 2011, hoping to draw attention to his party's cause, Raffi Hovannisian began a public hunger strike in a small protest camp in Yerevan's Freedom Square.
21.
Raffi Hovannisian announced about his decision to run for president in early November 2012.
22.
Raffi Hovannisian was perceived to be the main challenger of incumbent president Serzh Sargsyan many doubted Raffi Hovannisian's ability to bring about government change in Armenia.
23.
Raffi Hovannisian ran on a nationalist platform, with strong views on the Armenian genocide recognition and Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan.