Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte

Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte is an Armenian-American writer, lecturer, philanthropist and human rights advocate. She wrote Nowhere, a Story of Exile (2012). She has lectured extensively about the plight of Armenians in Azerbaijan in the context of human rights and international law, as well as defending the political rights of Armenians to establish autonomy in Nagorno-Karabakh. She was instrumental in gaining passage by the legislature of the State of Maine of a 2013 resolution recognizing the independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. In 2015, she was elected member of the Westbrook, Maine City Council. She was elected president of the council in 2021 and reelected as president in 2022, becoming Westbrook’s first immigrant and first female president of the city council.