SYDNEY: The Armenian Youth Federation of Australia (AYF Australia) has had a marathon start to 2013, with its Annual General Meeting followed by a massive All-Armenian Youth Camp, which it hosted for 60 high school-aged young Armenians during January.

The AGM elected AYF Australia's 2013 Executive to implement its new agenda. Aram Tufenkjian is the organisation's new Chairman, and has provided the following Editorial for our reading:

"After a monumental 2012 for the Armenian Youth Federation of Australia, the pressure is on us to build upon the strong foundations for a successful 2013, where we will continue to shape the future leaders of our community.

During 2012, AYF Australia held several important events, including dinner dances leading many hundreds to remember the fallen heroes of the February Revolt and the Khanasor Expedition. Also, AYF Australia held the inaugural ‘AYF Australia Month’ in July 2012, with international guest and AYF Canada leader, Harout Manougian. AYF Australia Month was very well received within our membership as well as by the community.

We were drawn closer to our motherland in 2012, with AYF Australia donating $2000 to a Nagorno Karabakh Youth and Cultural Centre, while we continued to support our community, raising another $2000 for Homenetmen Australia's 100/500 Fundraiser (raising funds for the Smokey Dawson Centre at Galstaun College).

We held a Youth Seminar during AYF Australia Month, with over 50 young Armenians putting forward ideas of how to further engage with the youth, we conducted community radio interviews and increased our membership numbers by 35%.

Througout 2012, AYF Australia also held various social and sporting events including the ‘Project White’ U18s event with over 100 Armenian youth in attendance, the NRL State of Origin viewing events, as well as Armenia’s FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

We have started 2013 with the same enthusiasm.

In January, we held the All-Armenian Youth Camp, which attracted over 60 high school-age Armenians for a fun filled weekend, including activities such as archery, flying fox, H20 skirmish, beach volleyball and mini-Olympics.



Our Executive for 2013, elected at our most recent Annual General Meeting, consists of myself (Aram Tufenkjian) as Chairperson, Haig Vartoukian as Treasurer, Jacqueline Keverian as Secretary, Chris Gulumian as Advisory and Siran Rajoyan as Advisory. We will strive to lead our 35 members to take AYF Australia to the next level.

Our AGM set us many tasks and we are looking forward to increasing our membership and our activities throughout the year. We aim to hold more events to engage the youth in Sydney, such as AYF Australia Month, Movie Screenings, Social Events for over and under 18s, Dinner Dances, Winter Seminars, Food and Toy Drives, PR and Social Outings for our members, as well as regular activities such as Calendars and Summer Camps.

The AYF Australia Nigol Touman Executive of 2013 looks forward to engaging with the Armenian community to reach our set targets for the year, as well as to continue to "shape the future leaders of our community"!

Aram Tufenkjian
AYF Australia Chairperson

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PICTURES FROM THE ALL-ARMENIAN YOUTH CAMP!