Andranik Kocharyan, apparently, does not have sufficient knowledge of his field, says Ministry of Defense

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, Shushan Stepanyan, wrote on her Facebook page: “The chairman of the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Defense and Security, Andranik Kocharyan, apparently does not have sufficient knowledge of his field, and today, unfortunately, we had another opportunity to confirm that. Specifically, Mr. Kocharyan stated during a press briefing with journalists in the National Assembly: ‘Today, our air force commander is a man who does not fly. There is no such thing in the world. The air force commander is appointed by Mr. Tonoyan.’

Essentially, an official who should be at least well-informed about the critical issues related to the country's defense does not even possess basic knowledge regarding the defense agency. We should inform Mr. Kocharyan that there is no ‘air force’ within the structure of the Republic of Armenia's Ministry of Defense. Instead, there is the ‘Aviation Department of the RA Armed Forces,’ whose head is Colonel Gagik Aslanyan.

Furthermore, we would like to point out specifically for Mr. Kocharyan that the head of the Aviation Department is appointed not by the Minister of Defense, but by the President of the Republic of Armenia upon the recommendation of the Prime Minister.

Additionally, we should inform Mr. Kocharyan that Colonel Gagik Aslanyan, the head of the Armed Forces Aviation Department, not only ‘does fly,’ but is also a first-class active pilot, undertaking flights on four types of aircraft, including SU-30SM, with over 1500 flight hours, and he is rightly considered a top professional in his field.”