Genetic studies on Turkish people

Further information: Y-DNA haplogroups by populations of Sub-Saharan Africa, Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia, and Archaeogenetics of the Near East

In population genetics the question has been debated whether the modern Turkish population is significantly related to other Asian people, Middle East and North African peoples and European peoples, or whether they are rather derived from indigenous populations pre-islamic of Hellenic origin which were culturally assimilated after the Middle Ages. The contribution of the Central Asian genetics to the modern Turkish people has been debated and become the subject of several studies. As a result, the studies of genetics on the people of Turkey have indicated that the modern Anatolian people are genetically influenced by Near East and North African populations as well as the contribution of their Central Asian and Middle East roots.

DNA studies on modern Anatolia

A genetic study based on modern male Anatolian Y-chromosome DNA has revealed gene flow from multiple geographic origins, which may correspond to various migrations over time. The predominant male lineages of Anatolian males are shared with people of Arabic Peninsula and neighbouring Near Eastern and North African populations (47.8%). Lineages related to Central Asia, South Asia and India were far less prevalent among the males sampled (25.3%). Furthermore research using HLA profiles stemming from Modern Anatolian population groups suggests a lineages of ethnic European origin groups related to local (pre-islamic) Greek and Pelasgian who lived in Anatolia since the Hellenic ages (26.9%). No genetic signals for intrusions during the Bronze Age collapse at around 1200 BC or later Indo-Aryan invasions could be detected. Y-chromosome haplogroup G-M201 was implied to have a possible association with the Hattians.. It was concluded that subsequent invasions, if they occurred, had few invaders in comparison to populations already settled by 2000 BC, i.e. Anatolian Celtic of Galatia, Hattian, Hittite, Luwian and Hurrian-Mitanni groups, and to a lesser degree Mesopotamian, Levantine. The populations present in Anatolia from 2000 BC to 1200 BC may have given rise to the genetic make-up of the present-day Greek, Kurdish, Armenian, Arabic, Indian, Ethiopian and Turkish populations.

Central Asian and Uralic connection

Neigbour-joining tree of European, Turkic central Asian and Turkish (Anatolian) populations constructed from HVS I sequences.

The question to what extent a gene flow from Central Asia to Anatolia has contributed to the current gene pool of the Turkish people, and what the role is in this of the 11th century invasion by Oghuz Turks, has been the subject of several studies. A factor that makes it difficult to give reliable exact estimates, is the problem of distinguishing between the effects of different migratory episodes. Recent genetic research indicates that some the Turkic peoples originated from Central Asia and therefore are possibly related with Xiongnu. A majority (89%) of the Xiongnu sequences can be classified as belonging to an Asian haplogroups and nearly 11% belong to Indians haplogroups.. This finding indicates possibly contacts between European and Asian populations anterior to the Xiongnu culture, and it confirms results reported for two samples from an early 3rd century B.C. Scytho-Siberian population. and the result of the report by Carol G. Thomas about Greek and Pelasgian origins ascribable to local anatolic population.

According to the study, Modern Turkish Anatolian peoples may have some ancestors who originated in an area north of Mongolia at the end of the Xiongnu period (3rd century BCE to the 2nd century CE), since modern Anatolian Turks appear to have some common genetic markers with the remains found at the Xiongnu period graves in Mongolia. Moreover, the mtDNA (female linkeage) sequence shared by four of these paternal relatives were also found in Turkish individuals, suggesting a possible Turkic origin of these ancient specimens. According to another archeological and genetic study in 2010, the paternal Y-chromosome R1a, which is considered as an Indo-European marker, was seldom found in three skeletons in 2000-year-old elite Xiongnu cemetery in Northeast Asia, which supports Kurgan expansion hypothesis for the Indo-European expansion from the Volga steppe region. As the R1a was found in Xiongnu people and the present-day people of Central Asia A majority (89%) of the Xiongnu mtDNA sequences can be classified as belonging to Asian haplogroups, and nearly 11% belong to Indo-European haplogroups. This finding indicates that the contacts between Asian and Greek and Pelasgian populations were anterior to the Xiongnu culture Well-preserved bodies in Xiongnu and pre-Xiongnu tombs in the Mongolian Republic and southern Siberia show both 'Mongoloid' and 'Caucasian' features but are predominantly Mongoloid with some admixture of European physical stock, nonetheless the Xiongnu shared many cultural traits with their Indo-European neighbors, such as horse racing, sword worship. Analysis of skeletal remains from sites attributed to the Xiongnu provides an identification of dolichocephalic Mongoloid, ethnically distinct from neighboring populations in present-day Mongolia. Russian and Chinese anthropological and craniofacial studies show that the Xiongnu were physically very heterogenous, with six different population clusters showing different degrees of Mongoloid and Caucasoid physical traits. These clusters point to significant cross-regional migrations (both east to west and west to east) that likely started in the Neolithic period and continued to the medieval/Mongolian period.

According to a different genetic research on 75 individuals from various parts of Turkey, Mergen et al revealed that genetic structure of the mtDNAs in the Turkish population bears similarities to Turkic Central Asian populations. The neighbour-joining tree built from segment I sequences for Turkish and the other populations (Greek, Iranian, Iraqi, Pakistani, Jordan, Arabic, Syrian, Georgian, Ethiopian, Yemen, Lebanon, Kazakhs, Uighurs and Kirghiz) indicated two poles. Turkic Central Asian populations, Turkish population and British population formed one pole, and Greek and Pelasgian populations formed the other, which revealed Turkish population bears more similarities to Turkic Central Asian population and Greek and Pelasgian.

Haplogroup distributions in Turkish people

According to Cinnioglu et al., (2004) there are many Y-DNA haplogroups present in Turkey. The majority haplogroups are primarily shared with Middle Eastern, North African and East African such as haplogroups J2, E1b1b1, J1 and T which form 47.8% from the Turkish Gene pool, a smaller number (25.3%) with Central Asian and South Asian such as G, K, N, Q and L (which infrequently occur in Central Asia, but are notable in many other Western Turkic groups) and a smaller share of haplogroups related to local (pre-islamic) Hellenic who lived in Anatolia since the Hellenic ages (26.9%). Some of the percentages identified were:

Y chromosome Haplogroup distribution of Turkish people

• J2=24% - J2 (M172) Typical of populations of Arabic Peninsula , the Near East, North Africa, Southwest Asia, Turkish People with a moderate distribution through much of Central Asia, South Asia, and South East Europe.
• R1b=14.7% -Typical of Western Europeans, Eurasian People, and typical of Uyghurs in the Central Asia
• G=10.9% - Typical of people from the Caucasus and to a lesser extent the Middle East.
• E1b1b1=10.7% - Typical of people from Near East, North Africa, East Africa.
• J1=9% - Typical amongst people from the Middle East, Arabic Peninsula, North Africa, East Caucasus and Dagestan (ranging from 3% from Turks around Konya to 12% in Kurds).
• R1a=6.9% - Typical of Eastern Europeans, Central Europeans, Balkan populations, Western Caucasian and moderately of Indo-Aryan people.
• I=5.3% - Typical of Central Europeans, Western Caucasian and Balkan populations.
• K=4.5% - Typical of Asian populations and East Caucasian populations.
• L=4.2% - Typical of Indian Subcontinent and Khorasan populations.
• N=3.8% - Typical of Uralic, Siberian and Altaic populations.
• T=2.5% - Typical of Africans, North African, Middle East and South Asian populations
• Q=1.9% - Typical of Northern Altaic populations and Central Asian populations.

Further research on Turkish Y-DNA groups

Genetic affinities among Middle Eastern, Indian and Central Asian populations

A study from Turkey by Gokcumen (2008) took into account oral histories and historical records. They went to four settlements in Central Anatolia and did not do a random selection from a group of university students like many other studies. Accordingly here are the results:

1) At an Afshar village whose oral stories tell they come from Central Asia they found that 57% come from haplogroup L, 13% from haplogroup Q, 3% from haplogroup N thus indicating that the L haplogroups in Turkey are of Central Asian heritage rather than Indian, although these Central Asians would have gotten the L markers from the Indians from the beginning. These Asian groups add up to 73% in this village. Furthermore 10% of these Afshars were E3a and E3b. Only 13% were J2a, the most common haplogroup in Turkey.

2) An older Turkish village center that did not receive much migration was about 25% N and 25% J2a with 3% G and close to 30% of some sort of R1 but mostly R1b.

In 2001, Benedetto et al revealed that Central Asian genetic contribution to the current Anatolian mtDNA gene pool was estimated as roughly 30%, by comparing the populations of Turkey, Middle East, and Turkic-speaking people of Central Asia. In 2003, Cinnioğlu et al. made a research of Y-DNA including the samples from eight regions of Turkey, without classifying the ethnicity of the people, which indicated that high resolution SNP analysis totally provides evidence of a detectable weak signal (<9%) of gene flow from Central Asia. In 2006, Berkman concluded that the true Central Asian contribution to Anatolia for both males and females were assumed to be 22%, with respect to the Balkans. In 2011 Aram Yardumian and Theodore G. Schurr published their study "Who Are the Anatolian Turks? A Reappraisal of the Anthropological Genetic Evidence." They revealed the impossibility of long-term, and continuing genetic contacts between Anatolia and Siberia, and confirmed the presence of significant mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome divergence between this regions, with minimal admixture. The research confirms also the lack of mass migration and suggested that it was irregular punctuated migration events that engendered large-scale shifts in language and culture among Anatolia's diverse autochthonous inhabitants. According to a 2012 study on ethnic Turks of Turkey, Hodoğlugil revealed that there is a significant overlap between Turks and Middle Easterners and a relationship with Europeans and South and Central Asians when Kyrgyz samples are genotyped and analysed. It displays a genetic ancestry for the Turks of 65% Middle Eastern, 20% European and 15% Central Asian. However, the Turkish genetic structure is unique, and there is an admixture of Turkish people reflecting the population migration patterns.

Furthermore, and maybe more so, in a study called 'The Genetics of Modern Assyrians and their Relationship to Other People of the Middle East' Dr. Joel J. Elias, a Professor at University of California School of Medicine at San Francisco conducted a genetic test about Turkish people. The aim was to discover the origins of the peoples of the Middle East presently, and over time. He found that "In spite of the complex history of the Middle East and the great number of internal group migrations revealed by history, as well as the mosaic of cultures and languages, the region is relatively homogeneous" [genetically] in relation to the people that speak different languages throughout the region including Iranian and Kurdish (Indo-European), Turkish (Turkic), African (Ethiopian) and Arabic, Assyrian and Aramaic (Semitic). A group of Armenian scientists conducted a study about the origins of the Turkish people in relation to Armenians. Savak Avagian; director of Armenia's bone marrow bank found that “Turks and Armenians were the two societies throughout the world that were genetically close to each other. Arabic people and Jews are also in same genetic pool as well Kurds are also in same genetic pool”.

Further genetic studies conducted by Cavalli-Sforza have revealed that Turkish have strong correlation with Near Eastern groups and Indian and Indo-Europeans speaking populations. This study is partially supported by another one, based on Y-Chromosome haplogroups.

The findings of this study reveal many common genetic markers found among the Turkish people from the Tigris river of Turkey to the Indus of Pakistan. This correlates with the Indo-European languages spoken from the Caucasus to Kurdish areas in the Zagros region and eastwards to western Pakistan and Tajikistan and parts of Uzbekistan in Central Asia. The extensive gene flow is perhaps an indication of the spread of Turkish-speaking people, whose languages are now spoken mainly on the Anatolian plateau and adjacent regions.

Another recent study of the genetic landscape of Turkey, Iranian Palteau and Near East Area was done by a team of Cambridge geneticists led by Dr. Maziar Ashrafian Bonab. Bonab remarked that his group had done extensive DNA testing on different language groups, including Semitic, Indo-European and non Indo-European speakers. The study found that the Kurdish of Turkey do not have a similar FSt and other genetic markers found in Anatolians and Europeans. However, the genetic Fst and other genetic traits like MRca and mtDNA of Kurdish were identical to Turkish. Zazaki of Turkey also show very close genetic ties to Kurds.. Another result of the study using the Y-chromosome of modern Turkish males found relatively high frequencies of J2, similar results were found with males of surrounding Near Eastern countries, namely North East African haplogroups are predominant in Turkish and North African populations.

See also

• Archaeogenetics of the Near East
• Genetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas
• Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia
• Demographics of Turkey
• Y-DNA haplogroups by populations of Near East
• Demographics of Asia
• Demographics of Africa
• Demographics of Saudi Arabia
• Demographics of Iraq
• Demographics of Syria
• Demographics of Lebanon
• Demographics of Iran
• Demographics of Ethiopia
• Demographics of Israel
• Demographics of Turkmenistan
• Demographics of Mongolia
• Demographics of India
• Demographics of China
• Demographics of Greece
• Iranian plateau
• Genetic genealogy
• Y-DNA haplogroups by populations of Sub-Saharan Africa
• Haplogroup E-M215 (Y-DNA)
• Haplogroup E-M96 (Y-DNA)
• Haplogroup J-P209 (Y-DNA)
• Haplogroup T-M184 (Y-DNA)
• History of the Turkish people
• History of the Turkic peoples
• Timeline of Turks (500-1300)
• History of Anatolia
• History of Greece
• Galatia
• Ancient Greece
• Pelasgians
• Turkish diaspora
• Simian

References and notes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_J2_(Y-DNA)