Raffi K. Hovannisian was in the French capital between January 30 and February 2 to hold a series of meetings with public opinion-makers and fellow compatriots.

In his public lecture on February 1 organized by the Renaissance association of France and through a series of private gatherings and media interviews, Hovannisian touched on Armenia's domestic state of emergency and its impending demographic crisis; the challenge of achieving a rightful Homeland without prisoners of conscience and with citizens empowered in dignity; and the imperative of forging in the year ahead a true new Republic with a finally-elected administration that respects the law, upholds civil rights, ensures state sovereignty, and pursues without surrender the national interest.