Farrah N. Khan

Khan was born in Lahore, Pakistan. She immigrated to the United States when she was three years old. She subsequently lived in northern California. She received her bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of California, Davis. She moved to Irvine in 2004.

Prior to working in politics, Khan worked as a regulatory manager for a biotech company. She has also worked as a small business owner and was executive director of the Newport Mesa Irvine Interfaith Council.

Irvine City Council

Khan first ran for Irvine City Council unsuccessfully in 2016. Running again in 2018, she was elected. She was the first Muslim and woman of color to be elected to Irvine's city council.

While on the Irvine City Council, she co-introduced an item with Councilmember Melissa Fox that repealed a decades-old ordinance that did not offer members of the LGBT community anti-discrimination protections.

Controversies

Association with a denier of the Armenian genocide

In March 2022, a video surfaced of a 2020 meeting between Khan and Ergun Kirlikovali, a former President of the Assembly of Turkish American Associations. In the video, Kirlikovali appears to make a joke that a box of Turkish delights could be eaten on Armenians' occasions, which would make them disappear. Khan appears to joke along, saying she would make sure to eat the Turkish delights in front of them. Kirlikovali is a known Armenian genocide denier. Some claimed that the joke was about making Armenians disappear whereas Khan has maintained that that was not the case.

This video was met with outrage and criticism, especially by members of the Armenian community. The group ANCA Western Region criticized Khan for associating with a genocide denier and pointed out that Khan appointed Kirlikovali to her mayoral advisory committee in 2021.

In response, Khan claimed that the video was not accurate, stating that the video's captions had an "incorrect translation". Khan also promised to cut ties with deniers of the Armenian genocide.