I went to a gaming expo type thing with lots of vendors. One vendor had some self made Avatar stuff listed under anime. I may have said Avatar isn't anime to myself. They may have gotten all huffy saying it is, as I walked away.
I lean more towards yes, but it definitely depends on how you're defining anime.
Do you think of anime as a Japanese art style of animation, or just any Japanese animation? If art style, then Avatar falls into that. If purely by country of origin, then no.
If I was talking to someone about anime we grew up with, I think Avatar would make sense in that conversation. I would assume an anime fan had seen it. If I was discussing western cartoons I grew up with, I would not at all assume that that person had watched Avatar. I'd be bringing up Ed Edd and Eddy.
