Versand Fransiki Hakobyan (; 15 September 1950 – 19 July 2022) was an Armenian aviation executive, oligarch, and politician who served in the

National Assembly of Armenia The National Assembly of Armenia (, ''Hayastani Hanrapetyut'yan Azgayin zhoghov'' or simply Ազգային ժողով, ԱԺ, ''Azgayin Zhoghov'', ''AZh''), also informally referred to as the Parliament of Armenia (խորհրդարան, ''khor ...

as a member of

Prosperous Armenia Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP; , abbreviated as ԲՀԿ BHK), is a conservative list of political parties in Armenia, political party in Armenia. It was founded by businessman Gagik Tsarukyan on 30 April 2004, when the constituent congress of the ...

from 2007 until 2012.

Biography

Hakobyan was born on 15 September 1950 in the village of Bazarchai,

Syunik Province Syunik (, ) is the southernmost province of Armenia. It is bordered by the Vayots Dzor Province to the north, Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic exclave to the west, Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran to the south. Its capital and larg ...

in the

Armenian SSR The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (ArSSR), also known as Soviet Armenia, or simply Armenia, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union, located in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Soviet Armenia bordered the Soviet republics ...

. In 1973, Hakobyan graduated from the Kyiv Institute of Civil Aviation Engineers, and he graduated from the same institution again in 1985. From 1973 until 1994, Hakobyan worked as an engineer at

Zvartnots International Airport Zvartnots International Airport () is located near Zvartnots, west of Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia. It acts as the main international airport of Armenia and is Yerevan's main international transport hub. It is the busiest airport in ...

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

, and from 1994 until 2002, he was the head of the passenger transportation department. From 2002 until 2007, he was the representative for

Armenian Airlines Armenian Airlines LLC () is a dormant Armenian airline company established in December 2022 and based at Zvartnots International Airport. History Armenian Airlines was established in December 2022, and is unrelated to the former state-owned ...

in the United Arab Emirates. Due to the wealth and influence of Hakobyan and his family, they were referred to as oligarchs. During his career, Hakobyan had been the owner of Air Armenia alongside fellow MP

Gagik Tsarukyan Gagik Kolyayi Tsarukyan (), also known as Dodi Gago (), is an Armenian businessman, politician, and former athlete. Tsarukyan is the founder and leader of the Prosperous Armenia political party. He also owns various large-scale businesses and is b ...

, and he joined his brother Hrayr Hakobyan as owner-director of Armenian International Airways and owner-director of the Yerevan Champagne Wines Factory. Additionally, the Hakobyan family together own a "network of restaurants in Yerevan and

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, an insurance company, a taxi service, large tracts of land, a tobacco plant and other businesses". In the

2003 Armenian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Armenia on 25 May 2003. There were 56 constituency seats and 75 elected on a national basis using proportional representation. They saw the Republican Party of Armenia emerge as the largest party, with 33 of t ...

, Hakobyan was the

nominee in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

for the

, contesting District 12, which covered part of Yerevan. Though Hakobyan was regarded as an ally of

Robert Kocharyan Robert Sedraki Kocharyan ( ; born 31 August 1954) is an Armenian politician. He served as the President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from 1994 to 1997 and Prime Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh from 1992 to 1994. He served as the second Presiden ...

, the

president of Armenia The president of Armenia () is the head of state and the guarantor of independence and territorial integrity of Armenia elected to a single seven-year term by the National Assembly of Armenia. Under Armenia's parliamentary system, the president ...

, he was defeated by

Republican Party of Armenia The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA, ; , ''HHK'') is a National conservatism, national-conservative List of political parties in Armenia, political party in Armenia led by the third president of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan. It was the first polit ...

nominee Harutyun Gharagyozian. However, in the

2007 Armenian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Armenia on 12 May 2007. 1,364 candidates ran for the 131 seats, 41 of which were constituency seats with the remaining 90 being filled by a proportional party-list system. The electoral threshold was five per ...

, Hakobyan was elected to the National Assembly for the same district. Prosperous Armenia chose not to renominate Hakobyan for the

2012 Armenian parliamentary election 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to s ...

. Hakobyan had three children. He died on 19 July 2022 from "health problems".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hakobyan, Versand 1950 births 2022 deaths Place of death missing People from Syunik Province Armenian engineers Armenian businesspeople Armenian corporate directors Airline founders Oligarchs Members of the National Assembly (Armenia) 21st-century Armenian politicians Prosperous Armenia politicians