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  • [Narrator] This is Nikol Pashinyan.

  • In April 2018, he led a 250,000-person revolution

  • in Armenia.

  • The peaceful demonstrations

  • were in response to the decadelong rule of Serzh Sargsyan.

  • After serving as president for 10 years,

  • lawmakers elected Sargsyan to become prime minister.

  • But many Armenians agreed that Sargsyan

  • had been in power for too long.

  • So they took to the streets to protest it.

  • The revolution was successful

  • in ousting Sargsyan from power.

  • And Pashinyan has since been elected

  • prime minister of Armenia.

  • Pashinyan: Our people were convinced

  • that they decide nothing

  • and that only government or establishment

  • has opportunities and real tools

  • and real leverages to decide their destiny

  • and destiny of our country.

  • We had a problem with the official results of elections,

  • because continuously, the results of elections

  • were falsified.

  • We have a huge problem of electoral bribe,

  • so vote-buying, et cetera, et cetera.

  • But our last snap parliamentary election, we were assessed

  • by international observers

  • as free, democratic, independent, and reliable.

  • And we had such a tremendous change in our political life

  • because of the change of personal behavior

  • of our every citizen.

  • [Narrator] Armenia has historically been a crossroads

  • between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

  • Neighbors include Turkey to the left,

  • Azerbaijan to the right,

  • Iran to the south,

  • and Georgia and Russia to the north.

  • With such a diverse group of neighbors

  • and a long history of conflict,

  • international relations can be very complicated.

  • Pashinyan: For us, it's very important,

  • our relations with our neighbors Iran and Georgia.

  • Unfortunately, two of our borders,

  • from four, are closed.

  • [Narrator] While international relations can be difficult,

  • Pashinyan is focusing on domestic economic changes

  • to shape the country's near future.

  • One growth sector he's confident about is tech.

  • That includes the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies,

  • a free learning center for the Armenian youth

  • that specializes in technology and design.

  • The center has recently expanded to Paris and Beirut,

  • with plans for more international locations.

  • Pashinyan: That means that Armenia is starting

  • to export technologies.

  • These kind of technologies are changing the face of Armenia.

  • [Narrator] Armenia has a population

  • of about 2.9 million people

  • for 11,484 square miles.

  • For comparison, about 8.9 million people

  • live in New York City.

  • Armen Ghazaryan, head of migration services,

  • hopes this number can grow following the revolution.

  • Ghazaryan: Armenia is a country of destination,

  • country of transit, and country of origin.

  • We are all those three in one.

  • After the revolution,

  • Armenia is also a country that is

  • in a process of change,

  • and this is a very important pull factor, you know.

  • It brings people here,

  • because people want to be part of the change,

  • and they want to transform a country

  • and be engaged in this transformation process,

  • be it on political level, be it on economic level,

  • and, hopefully, later on,

  • on social and cultural levels as well.

  • [Narrator] We spoke with citizens in the capital of Armenia

  • about post-revolution life.

[Narrator] This is Nikol Pashinyan.

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