The history of the Armenian aviation in a book
“Why are you giving names, het guy?” such questions were voiced by the assailants of Artashes Yepremyan. The incident occurred in 2013, near the English school, right in the school yard, in front of the schoolchildren. The cars coming the opposite direction had simply cut off the road of Artashes Yepremyan’s car, pulling him out of the car, beating him, then drove across his legs and went off. All of this was done to intimidate him and to take his draft records from the car. Artashes Yepremyan is a pilot and was the Chairman of trade union of the “Armenian Airlines” Company up to 2004. He says that during that period and after it, he has managed to collect “enough evidence” about why, how, and with whose “support” the Armenian aircraft was wrecked. He had decided to complete it in one book and publish it. “I told the police the make of the car attacking me and the plate number, the investigators knew very well who they are, but moreover, they denounced me for visiting the forensics doctor. If I defame, then judge me, why do you settle scores with me. Early in the morning, at 6 a.m., the police broke into my apartment and I was taken to the 6th Division…,” said Artashes Yepremyan recalling the incidents not in the far past, in the conversation with “Aravot”.
Fortunately, a copy of the stolen draft had fallen at the corner and was left there. Our interlocutor, who has temporarily moved to Germany after these events, is now finalizing his records. In the coming months, the book, however, will be published. The book will illustrate the whole history of the Armenian aviation in the newly independent country. Artashes Yepremyan promises in the book all the facts yet not found in the press about the facts how and why the pilots who were members of the AAL Regulatory Council together with the Chairman of the Council Dmitri Adbashyan were “arrested” at the office of Prime Minister Khosrov Karutyunyan in 1992, what “contribution” Vigen Chitejyan and Shahen Petrosyan had to the fate of the AA (Armenian Airlines). “Levon Ter-Petrosyan laid the foundation for the demolition of the aviation,” says our interlocutor with confidence. “The Armenian airlines” should have maintained its existence in this complex period. It was quite profitable, also attractive in that sense as we did not have a land connection. Our proposed plan was rejected, and the process of treating the aviation like a taxi began from it. But the aviation conduct and charter are different, being a pilot is not an ordinary profession. Today, preparing one pilot requires 250-300 thousand dollars, we had 450 pilots, now we have none, even a school, nor already an aircraft. While, our aviation could be the strongest in the region, in both professionals and geographical location. Later on, Robert Kocharyan, Serzh Sargsyan and various criminal clans felt the benefit of it and began extending their hands to aviation under the name of a business. Gagik Tsarukyan took the air-service sector, but was servicing the interests of Robert Kocharyan’s niece. They brought Ernekyan along with the law on monopoly prohibiting the service of other airport at the radios of 250 km. He did not make investments in Armenia, he has shown the 0.1 percent of the money entered into Armenia and has taken the rest to him.”
In his book, Artashes Yepremyan promises to bring detailed and arguments about how David Harutyunyan along with his brother “demolished the AA with an intention to recognize it bankrupt. Like in 2004, they signed a contract with Michael Bagdasarov, and then handed the whole market to him. “If they had put the AA’s assets: the market, parking, flights, lines and offices up for the auction, the then prices would be 600 million dollars. Bagdasarov also signed a crucial contract with “Siberia airlines” for using the territory of AA jointly for 25 years. He worked with “Siberia airlines” for 3-4 years in the Armenian market, took the money available in the budget, trained his staff and quit the Armenian market. Bagdasarov remained a monopoly as an owner and the master of the Armenian market and began selling the flights to the Russian airlines, by receiving a ticket price for 11-20 seats for each flight.
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It turns out to make money out of the air. And then, he brought aircraft by leasing formulating under the name of the LLC belonging to him. It turned out that an LLC that belongs to him leases an aircraft to another company by causing astronomical sums to “Armavia”. Without paying this amounts as salaries to the pilots, Bagdasarov had left for Bucharest to open a company, it operates and so far does not bear any responsibility,” says our interlocutor, adding, “But the absurdity is that from 2004 until now, the AA cannot be recognized bankrupt, because the AA’s assets are still being sold. Germany, Holland, France, Moscow, various Russian cities, London, Beirut and Greece have their own offices and assets. The land plots owned by the AA near the Lake Sevan, the Tsakhkadzor resort house were sold for pennies. What happened to them? No one knew.” He recalls that during the National Assembly hearing in 2005 to dissolve the “Armenian Airlines”, he was one of the speakers.
He handed the AA recovery plan to the RoL MP Hovhannes Margaryan. The latter and the Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Legal Affairs Rafik Petrosyan promised to discuss, but there was no response. Artashes Yepremyan will tell in his book how the RA Government members and their wives were leaving for China on TU-134, on business trip, and returning with all their goods loaded on the plane, which, naturally, were entering Armenia without taxation. He will tell about the famous “Brilliant and diamond” flight to India, and how IL-86 took the flight to Singapore, no flight was conducted from there, but after returning Yerevan, it was revealed that it had conducted more than 12 flights. “How did they make a flight and then erase it, the Transport Prosecutor’s Office will have to give the answer,” says our interlocutor. He will present his personal and professional approaches on the fallen Armenian aircrafts in Sochi and Congo. “They exploited it to the end without conducting any technical service work on them, suck up to the last drop. There is no in Armenia, and a chaos in the market for tickets, the ticket prices are inflated by 30 percent, because thieves and plunderers have entered the aviation.” He is sure in one thing, if the “Air Armenia”, which was formed by the former director of the AA Arsen Avetisyan and David Harutyunyan’s brother Vahan Harutyunyan, have allowed the AA’s leftover assets: AN-12 and AN-24 to operate, now the situation would have been much better. Recall that the air company was carrying only cargo flights and submitted an application to enter into the market for passenger flights, but an “open sky” policy was announced in Armenia. Artashes Yepremyan thinks that it is wrong. “It seems there’s a group of people in Armenia who do everything specifically so that Armenian would not have a national carrier. If they had allowed for the “Air Armenia” to stay, today the results would be visible. It is also a matter of military and strategic importance, the Armenian aviation had played a big role during the Karabakh war and the earthquake.”
Nelly GRIGORYAN
