In October 1988, Hovannisian wrote an article for the "Los Angeles Times" supporting the Karabakh movement. He was in Soviet Armenia in December 1988, when an earthquake shook northwestern parts of the country. In February 1990, he settled in a one-bedroom apartment off Azizbekov Square (now Sakharov Square) in capital Yerevan. Hovannisian was the Yerevan office director of the Armenian Assembly of America. His family moved to Yerevan in fall 1990.