Bucharest—Raffi K. Hovannisian, Armenia’s first minister of foreign affairs and founder of the Heritage Party, was in the Romanian capital on March 6 and 7 to take part in the Congress of the European People’s Party.

Hovannisian took the floor to share with the thousands of delegates, journalists, and diplomatic and political guests his critical perspectives on the Russian-Ukrainian war, Azerbaijan’s Turkey-sponsored campaign of bloody occupation of Mountainous Karabagh and swaths of Armenia, ethnic cleansing, cultural genocide, and the continued incarceration of duly-elected leaders and other prisoners of war.

“Geopolitics are not an end unto themselves and must , especially for Europe, be based universally on democratic values and benchmarks,” he concluded.

In the margins of the Congress, Raffi Hovannisian conferred with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Croatian prime minister Andrej Plenkovic, and several other officials.