Councillor Sarkis Yedelian OAM, was elected as an Independent Councillor for the City of Ryde on Saturday 27 March 2004 and he has been re elected in September 2008 for another term.

He studied journalism and electronic engineering. He is self employed and run his small IT, camera, telecommunication and precision instrument consulting service business since 1985. He is married with two adult children.

He has been living in the City of Ryde since 1984. He migrated to Sydney in 1979, from Beirut, Lebanon. Sarkis (of Armenian ancestry) became acutely aware of the paucity in electronic and print media interconnecting the multicultural communities, and quickly set about improving communication and awareness in the spirit of multiculturalism and integration amongst this group within mainstream Australia .

In 1980, he, along with a few others, founded the "Armenia Weekly"  magazine and served on its Editorial Board for many years. In 1982, he started the Armenian Community Radio Hour at 2NSB-FM and served as its coordinator and anchor till 1990. In 1994, with a group of other volunteers, Sarkis established Community TV Sydney CH31 with the intention of producing programs for Sydney's culturally-diverse non-English speaking communities.  Driven by the need for wider access and equity, as Chairman of the Programming Council of Community TV Sydney he led the way for young film-makers to have their say and air their production on Channel 31.

Since 1994, Sarkis has been President of Armenian TV Sydney Inc.  He has transformed both his workplace and personal residence into a state of the art TV production studio and produced, free of charge, over 1000 hours of community TV programs for Sydney's Armenian and broader culturally-diverse communities. This work has been completely voluntary, without any government support, and has involved no less than 10-12 hours each week.  In this capacity, Sarkis has also recorded over 35 hours of video testimonies of survivors of the Armenian Genocide.  Sarkis has also served in a voluntary capacity as Director and Board Member at Community TV Sydney CH31 (1995-2004) and Programming Council Chairman at Community TV Sydney CH31 (1995-2004). He has voluntarily trained young journalists, video producers and camera operators.

In May 2010 Sarkis joined the Liberal Party, this move aimed at fighting the State Labor Government’s interference in overriding of Local Government authority. Since his election on council as independent Councillor (2004 and 2008) he was frustrated by State Labor planning legislation that ignored the fair application of development regulations designed to protect our community standards. The issues with inappropriate high density social housing developments in low density suburbs approved without council consent, boarding house legislation that ignored local residents, use of Labor’s 3A legislation to build massive over-developments such as unit towers at West Ryde and the rehab centre at Putney that overrode council regulations.  

His election as an Independent Councillor, represented the first elected Councillor in Australia of Armenian ancestry and one of first independent Councillors of Ryde born overseas with a culturally diverse background.  He actively encouraged other migrants at all levels to participate in the everyday public life of the communities of Greater Ryde and the Lower North Shore.  In Ryde City, he actively encourages the integration and interaction of Australians with immigrants from Indonesia, Korea, Lebanon, India, Palestine, Armenia and other places. He helped them to form the "Ryde Multicultural Centre Inc.", and secured a meeting place for them via the support of local businesses and the Ryde Council. In cooperation of fellow Councillors, he plays a key leadership role in the Ryde’s Community Harmony Reference Group which advises Council on all multicultural issues. His fluency in five languages has helped him communicate without difficulty with many different communities. His activities beyond the specific include his voluntary work for the State Emergency Service of Ryde.

During the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, Mr. Yedelian voluntarily assisted the Armenian Paralympics Team. He provided free media coverage and video/internet connectivity and service, particularly for the paraplegic weightlifting and sailing team.  For this he was recognized with a Certificate of Appreciation from the President of Armenian Olympic Committee.

On 27 October 2007 Sarkis received “Community service Award" from Armenian Chamber of Commerce of Australia.

On Australia Day,  26 January 2009, Clr. Yedelian  was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in the General Division, 'for service to the Armenian community through the promotion and development of multicultural integration initiatives, and to local government.'

He is member of many community Organisations and Clubs.  He is currently the President of Ryde Multicultural Centre Inc.

He served as Deputy Mayor from September 2007 to September 2009

Clr. Yedelian is Chairman of Community Harmony advisory Committee; he also serves on the Environment and Planning, Country Council Partnership Advisory, Sport & Recreation Advisory, Macquarie Park Committees.

He represented Ryde Council in the following conferences.

Local Government Association (LGA) of NSW,  2004  Armidale, 2005 Mudgee, 2006 Blue Mountains, 2007 Coffs Harbour, 2008 Broken Hill and 2009 Tamworth.