Who really is Mr. K? Part 1

Hello, I am Ashot K, and I approve this blog.

Have you gotten to know Mr. Ashot K? Perhaps you have heard that he is running for a position on the Medical Student Council, to represent your class, but what do you really know about him? For example, did you know that he is also in the race for the Vice President position on the AMA? Some might even call him a real hero. You There is more about Ashot K than just meets the eye. To get to the bottom of who this man really is, we must look at his past. This blog is part of a series of blogs dedicated to exploring the background of this great man, as we approach Election Day.

Mr. K was born to Sergey and Marietta K, he was named after his great-grandfather. He was born on August 30th 1982, in the sunny city of Baku, capital of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan, on the coast of the Caspian Sea. His was born to an Armenian family that were part of the Armenian community of Baku, whose grandparents ended up in Baku as refugees fleeing the Turks during the Armenian Genocide of WWI. Mr. K’s great-grandfather, also Ashot K, along with his family was victim of the Armenian Genocide; they escaped to Baku as refugees during the aftermath of the First World War. Back then Baku was a safe place for Armenians because it was first under British occupation and then under Soviet occupation. Eventually it would become the capital of the Azerbaijan republic, and then it would not longer be a safe haven.

Because Baku was the Azeri capital, and because Azeri’s are ethnic Turks, Ashot K’s great-grandfather changed the K surname to sound more Russian in order to hide the family’s Armenian background. The Armenians of Baku lived in peace as a minority group in the Azeri capital of Baku, until 1988, when war between Armenia and Azerbaijan broke out and the Armenians would once again become targets of ethnic cleansing. The K family once again had to become refugees, eventually making their way to America. Later on, when the Ashot that you know, became a US citizen, he changed the surname back to the original Armenian pronunciation because he no longer had to fear being an Armenian. He was Ashot K and he was now a citizen of the greatest country in the world, a country of tolerance and opportunity. He knew that success no longer depended on what surname you, but on how hard you worked for your goals. God bless the U.S.A!