Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | Anna Norikovna Astvatsaturova March 14, 1978 Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union |
Nationality | American |
Notable works | Nowhere, a Story of Exile |
Notable awards | The Medal of Mkhitar Gosh, NKR “Gratitude” medal |
Website | |
astvatsaturian |
Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte (born Anna Norikovna Astvatsaturova; March 14, 1978) is an Armenian-American writer, lecturer, [1] [2] philanthropist [3] [4] [5] 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. [6] 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. [7]
Turcotte was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, the daughter of two artists, [8] Norik Astvatsaturov [9] [10] and Irina Astvatsaturova. [11] She fled with her family due to anti-Armenian attacks in Baku in 1989. [12] [13] [14] [15] They spent three years in Armenia as refugees before immigrating to the United States in 1992. [16] Her family was placed in Wahpeton, North Dakota, where she became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1997. [17]
She studied at the University of North Dakota and received degrees in English & Literature and Philosophy & Religion, along with a minor in Russian Language and Literature. She received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Maine School of Law in Portland, Maine in 2003. [17] [18] After graduating from law school, she worked as a clerk at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. [19]
Turcotte has written and lectured extensively about Armenian issues across the United States, including on Capitol Hill. [20] She has also spoken to the European Parliament on issues of human rights, international law, and anti-Armenianism.
She advocated and worked to support the State of Maine's 2013 resolution recognizing the independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. [21] She has discussed Azerbaijani policy regarding the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh with members of the Congress and the European Parliament. Astvatsaturian Turcotte is an advisory board member of the non-governmental organization Americans for Artsakh.[ citation needed ]
In 2015, Astvatsaturian Turcotte spoke at TedX Grand Forks about her experiences as a refugee and human rights activists. [22] On November 3, 2015, Anna Turcotte won the election to Ward 3 of the Westbrook, Maine City Council. She received 64% of the total vote, unseating incumbent Paul Emery. [23] [24]
In 2018 Astvatsaturian Turcotte was re-elected to Westbrook City Council, Representing Ward 3. She ran unopposed. Astvatsaturian Turcotte has a successful career in banking regulatory risk and compliance. [25]
Turcotte was elected vice president of the council on December 3, 2018. [26]
Turcotte was elected president of the council on December 6, 2021, to become the council's first refugee and first female leader. [27]
In 2012, she published her first book, Nowhere, a Story of Exile. [28] It was based on a childhood diary she kept while her family faced the ethnic violence in Baku during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. [29] She began translating the entries into English at the age of 14. She described their lives as refugees in Armenia after they escaped Baku. Her book was a first-person account of the anti-Armenianism in Azerbaijan and the Baku pogrom against Armenians. The book was translated into Russian in 2017 and into Armenian in 2022. [30] [31]
Turcotte spearheaded various humanitarian projects to benefit the vulnerable population in Armenia and Artsakh Republic, such as supporting Baku Armenian refugees in both Armenia and Artsakh and initiatives supporting the children of Artsakh. She sponsored eyecare surgeries, screenings, and provided eyeglasses for two villages in Syunik province of Armenia, where her paternal grandparents originated. [32]
In the last few years Anna has gathered and sent over 300 lb of ballet clothing to Artsakh Ballet College in Stepanakert. [33]
Some notable projects were inspired by the memory of the 30th anniversary of the Baku Pogroms. To honor this anniversary Anna launched several projects. 2019-2020 Anna and Armenia Tree Project planted a forest in memory of survivors, victims of the Baku Pogroms against Armenians and to honor the community of Baku Armenians that spread around the world as refugees. She made possible the Armath Lab – a computer lab with a 3D printer for children in School #8 in Stepanakert, Artsakh. She has been a vocal supporter of the wounded Armenian soldiers and their families and has donated and fundraised for these efforts to heal the wounded soldiers, provided, a kitchen and a bath, and medical kits and solar panels to posts on the border of Artsakh with Azerbaijan. [34] [35] [36]
In early 2020 Turcotte launched Anna Astvatsaturian Foundation, a public charitable organization to continue and expand her philanthropic duties. [37] [38] One of the foundation's first initiatives was to conduct a full country post-war census of Artsakh Republic and its citizens, documenting their stories and losses. [39] In 2022 on International Children’s day Astvatsaturian Turcotte launched “Ser Artsakh” to provide baby essentials to every newborn in Artsakh. [40]
Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte was awarded the Mkhitar Gosh Medal of Honor from President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan [41] and the Nagorno-Karabakh Gratitude Medal from Nagorno-Karabakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan in 2013. In 2014, she was awarded Vahan Cardashian award by the Armenian National Committee of America - Western Region. [42]
In 2017, she was awarded an Activism Award by the Armenian National Committee of America - Eastern Region. [43]
Nagorno-Karabakh is a region in Azerbaijan, covering the southeastern stretch of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. Part of the greater region of Karabakh, it spans the area between Lower Karabakh and Syunik. Its terrain mostly consists of mountains and forestland.
Stepanakert or Khankendi is a ghost city in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. The city was under the control and the capital city of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh prior to the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in the region. The city is located in a valley on the eastern slopes of the Karabakh mountain range, on the left bank of the Qarqarçay (Karkar) river.
Artsakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh or the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, was a breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory was internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan. Between 1991 and 2023, Artsakh controlled parts of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, including its capital Stepanakert. It had been an enclave within Azerbaijan from the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war until the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive, when the Azerbaijani military took control over the remaining territory controlled by Artsakh. Its only overland access route to Armenia after the 2020 war was via the five kilometres (3.1 mi)–wide Lachin corridor, which was placed under the supervision of Russian peacekeeping forces.
Arkadi Arshaviri Ghukasyan is an Armenian politician who served as the second President of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. He was elected as the President on 8 September 1997 and re-elected in 2002, until his term ended on 7 September 2007 and was succeeded by Bako Sahakyan. He was detained by Azerbaijani forces after the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh and is currently facing criminal charges in Azerbaijan.
The Khojaly massacre was the mass killing of Azerbaijani civilians by Armenian forces and the 366th CIS regiment in the town of Khojaly on 26 February 1992. The event became the largest single massacre throughout the entire Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The Republic of Artsakh was a republic with limited recognition in the South Caucasus region. The Republic of Artsakh controlled most of the territory of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. It was recognized only by three other non-UN member states, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria. The rest of the international community recognized Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan. In November 2012, a member of Uruguay's foreign relations committee stated that his country could recognize Nagorno-Karabakh's independence. In 2012, Armenia and Tuvalu established diplomatic relations, which led to speculation of possible recognition of Artsakh by Tuvalu. In October 2012, the Australian state of New South Wales recognized Nagorno-Karabakh. In September 2014, the Basque Parliament in Spain adopted a motion supporting Artsakh's right to self-determination and in November 2014, the Parliament of Navarre, also in Spain, issued a statement supporting Artsakh's inclusion in taking part in settlement negotiations.
Bako Sahaki Sahakyan is an Armenian politician who served as the third president of the de facto-independent Republic of Artsakh from 2007 to 2020. He is the longest-serving president of Artsakh.
Arayik Vladimiri Harutyunyan is an Armenian politician who served as the fourth president of the Republic of Artsakh from May 2020 to September 2023. Under his predecessor Bako Sahakyan, he served as the sixth and last Prime Minister from 2007 until the abolishment of that position in 2017 and as the first State Minister of the Republic of Artsakh from 2017 until his resignation in 2018. Harutyunyan led Artsakh through the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War with Azerbaijan, during which the republic lost most of the territory under its control. He resigned on 1 September 2023 in the midst of the Azerbaijani blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The following outline is provided as an overview and topical guide of the Republic of Artsakh and Nagorno-Karabakh region:
Zabukh or Aghavno is a village in the Lachin District of Azerbaijan. The village came under the control of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh after 1992 and was renamed Aghavno and settled by Armenians. Following the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, Zabukh came under the control of the Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno-Karabakh. On 26 August 2022, Azerbaijan regained control of Zabukh along with other settlements located along the former route of the Lachin corridor, including Lachin and Sus.
Stepanakert Airport or Khojaly Airport is an airport in the town of Khojaly, 10 kilometers north-east of Stepanakert, Azerbaijan. The airport, in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, had been under the control of the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh from 1992 to 2023. Flights ceased with the escalation of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1990.
Artsakh State University was a university in Stepanakert, the oldest and largest university in the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh. Over the course of its 50-year history, Artsakh State University has produced over 20,000 graduates in 60 fields of study.
The siege of Stepanakert started in late 1991, during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, in Stepanakert, the largest city in Nagorno-Karabakh, when the Azerbaijani forces circled the city. Until May 1992, the city and its Armenian population were the target of a months-long campaign of bombardment by Azerbaijan. The bombardment of Stepanakert and adjacent Armenian towns and villages, which took place under the conditions of total blockade by Azerbaijan, caused widespread destruction and many civilian deaths.
On 2 June 1992, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), a former breakaway state in the South Caucasus region, adopted a flag derived from the flag of Armenia, to which a white, five-toothed, stepped carpet pattern is added, beginning at the two verges of the flag's fly and meeting at a point equal to one-third of the distance from that side. The NKR was renamed the Republic of Artsakh in 2017 after a referendum and retained the flag. Following an Azerbaijani offensive on 19 September 2023, Artsakh agreed to dissolve itself by 1 January 2024. However, Samvel Shahramanyan said that there was no official document stipulating the dissolution of government institutions, implying that the republic may continue as a government in exile. As of 21 July 2024, the government of Artsakh is currently in exile in Yerevan.
The political status of Nagorno-Karabakh remained unresolved from its declaration of independence on 10 December 1991 to its September 2023 collapse. During Soviet times, it had been an ethnic Armenian autonomous oblast of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a conflict arose between local Armenians who sought to have Nagorno-Karabakh join Armenia and local Azerbaijanis who opposed this.
The Karabakh movement, also known as the Artsakh movement, was a national mass movement in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh from 1988 to 1991 that advocated for the transfer of the mainly Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of neighboring Azerbaijan to the jurisdiction of Armenia.
During its existence, the Republic of Artsakh and the United States did not have official diplomatic relations as the United States was among the vast majority of countries that did not recognize Artsakh as a sovereign nation and instead recognized the region of Artsakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh, as part of Azerbaijan. Despite no formal relations, the Republic of Artsakh had a representative office in Washington, D.C. since November 1997. It is not known whether the office still functions after the apparent dissolution of Artsakh.
This is a list of individuals and events related to Azerbaijan in 2023.
From the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 to the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, the city of Stepanakert was the capital of the unrecognized breakaway Republic of Artsakh, while being internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
{{cite web}}
: |last=
has generic name (help)