Genetic studies on Turkish people

Uncommon card · No. 180863

Population genetics research has been conducted on the ancestry of the modern Turkish people (not to be confused with Turkic peoples) in Turkey. Such studies are relevant for the demographic history of the population as well as health reasons, such as for studying population-specific diseases. Some studies have sought to determine the relative genetic contributions of the Turkic peoples of Central Asia, from where the Seljuk Turks began migrating to Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, which led to the establishment of the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate in the late 11th century, and prior populations in the area who were culturally assimilated during the Seljuk and the Ottoman periods. Turkish genomic variation, along with several other West Asian populations, looks most similar to genomic variation of Southern European populations such as southern Italians. West Asian genomes, including Turkish ones, have been greatly influenced by early agricultural populations in the area; later...

Read on Wikipedia