The Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) ( hy, Ավստրալիայի Հայ դատի յանձնախումբ) is considered one of the largest and most influential grassroots
organization
An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose.
The word is derived from ...
representing the
Armenian Australian community in Australia. ANC-AU represents a total of 36 Armenian-Australian organisations with over 5,500 memberships, in addition to the broader Armenian-Australian community of an estimated 50,000.
ANC-AU works in areas of political and educational activities, including:
* Informing and influencing the
Australian Government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...
policy on affairs of interest to the Armenian-Australian community;
* Raising public awareness in support of an independent and united
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
;
* Representing the collective Armenian-Australian community on public policy.
In February 2020, the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU), Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA) and Australian Hellenic Council (AHC) initiated the launch of the Joint Justice Initiative at Australia's
Parliament House, calling for Australia's national recognition of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides of 1915 as a priority on behalf of their communities.
Michael Kolokossian was appointed the organisation's Executive Director in June 2022.
Executive Directors
{, class="wikitable sortable"
!Ordinal
!Officeholder
!Term start
!Term end
!Time in office
!Notes
, -
, align="center" , 1
, Tro Kortian
, align="center" , ?
, align="center" , 2007
, align="right" , ?
, rowspan="5" ,
, -
, align="center" , 2
, Varant Meguerditchian
, align="center" , 2007
, align="center" , 2012
, align="right" , years
, -
, align="center" , 3
, Vache Kahramanian
, align="center" , 2012
, align="center" , 2017
, align="right" , years
, -
, align="center" , 4
, Haig Kayserian
, align="center" , 2018
, align="center" , 2022
, align="right" , {{age in years, 2018, 2022 years
, -
, align="center" , 5
, Michael Kolokossian
, align="center" , 2022
, colspan="2" align="center" , ''incumbent''
References
External links
Official website
Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Armenia–Australia relations
Political advocacy groups in Australia