Armenian National Committee of America
The Armenian National Committee of America ( Armenian Ամերիկայի Հայ Ազգային Կոմիտե , ANCA) is a large and influential American- Armenian grass-roots organization in the United States . The umbrella organization is the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Taschnaken).
It works with a network of offices, local chapters and supporters across the country and its affiliated organizations around the world. ANCA cares for the problems of the Armenian-American community on a wide range of topics.
history
The National Committee was founded in 1918, after World War I and the Armenian Genocide , as the American Committee for the Independence of Armenia (ACIA) by Vahan Kardashian, the former consul of the Ottoman Empire in Washington, DC . Many prominent American and allied figures, including James Watson Gerard , the US Ambassador to Germany , Senator Henry Cabot Lodge , Charles Evans Hughes (later Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court) and Elihu Root , participated in the organization. The aim of the ACIA was the independent Wilsonian Armenia . The ACIA had a central office in New York City and 23 regional offices in 13 states.
In 1941 these offices were gradually expanded to become the Armenian National Committee of America. The activity has also expanded to include public relations in order to familiarize local Armenian communities with all-Armenian affairs. Other activities included April 24th commemoration ( Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day ), public forums, voter registrations, and support for local and state political candidates.
structure
The main offices are in Washington DC (headquarters), Boston and Los Angeles . ANCA has more than fifty local branches and thousands of activists working in collaboration with a large network of regional Armenian National Committees in Armenia , Russia , France , the Middle East , Canada and Australia . The ANCA's executive director is Ara Hamparian and its chairman is Ken Hachikian.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ ANN / Groong - DiasporaConf99: ANCA's Address
- ↑ Heather S. Gregg, Divided They Conquer: The Success of Armenian Ethnic Lobbies in the US (PDF; 141 kB)
- ↑ ANC Chapters ( Memento from October 19, 2004 in the Internet Archive )