Serzh Sargsyan unaware of disabled pilots?
Nearly twenty disabled pilots today held a protest in front of the presidential palace with the demand to receive their compensation.
President of the Disabled Pilots Union NGO, former commander of the Il 86 plane Gagik Mirzoyan says they have been fighting for the past five years, but haven't reached their goal and the number of members continues to decline.
"There used to be 137 disabled pilots, but that number has gone down to 90 in the past five years. We are all 2nd degree disabled. We have met with different officials, including the Ministers of Social Affairs and Justice, as well as the Ombudsman. They all have announced that only Serzh Sargsyan can solve this issue, and that is why we decided to meet him here," Gagik Mirzoyan told "A1+".
According to him, they are visiting the presidential palace for the third time already and like previous times, they weren't received today either.
Gagik Mirzoyan mentioned that the "deputy head of some division" came out of the presidential palace and mentioned that since the President still doesn't have a chief of staff, the President couldn't receive them. However, the pilot mentioned that they were demanding a meeting with Serzh Sargsyan, not the chief of staff.
The pilots recalled that during the Soviet era, they were paid pensions for the disabled, but Armavia Airlines, which came to replace the Armenian Airlines dissolved by Robert Kocharyan, refused to perform the function prescribed by the law and continue the payments. According to the pilots, the government should be obliged to pay the compensation, and the debt has already crossed the 1.5 million dollar limit.
