Is North Caucasus part of Middle East?

[reboun]

A few weeks ago, one of my friends showed me his Family Tree DNA results. He scored some North Caucasus but it was in Middle East category. As far as I know, North Caucasus is geographically in Europe. Why do you think the region is categorized as a part of Middle East but not Europe?

[RatCat]

Because genetically they are Middle Eastern rather than European.

[mergen3]

Middle East

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[reboun]

Because genetically they are Middle Eastern rather than European.

Really?

[Mingle]

There is no fully accepted border between Europe and West Asia. The border separating the South Caucasus from the North Caucasus is just the most common one.

Here are a number of different borders used to divide Europe and Asia ('A' makes more sense than the current most common division IMO):

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Historical_Europe-Asia_boundaries_1700_to_1900.png

Genetically, North Caucasians are way closer to their southern neighbors than to Euros, so it makes sense to group them under the ME category if the South Caucasus is.

[RatCat]

Really?

Yes, they are Native Caucasians. If you want to compare, They are closer to Iran and Syria rather than Mainland Greeks and Balkanites too.

Distance to: Adygei
0.07433230 Iranian_Zoroastrian
0.07477669 Iranian_Fars
0.07928252 Iranian_Lor
0.08114699 Iranian_Seyyed
0.08246987 Iranian_B
0.08332440 Iranian_Mazandarani
0.10170036 Iranian_Jew
0.10554625 Syrian
0.11218424 Greek_Macedonia
0.11316472 Greek_Peloponnese
0.11336071 Greek_Thessaly
0.11757177 Albanian
0.11911404 Macedonian:Central
0.11997728 Macedonian:Northwest
0.12229534 Macedonian:Pelagonia1
0.12466779 Macedonian:Southeast
0.12670786 Macedonian:East1
0.12933589 Macedonian:East2
0.13172929 Serbian

[reboun]

Genetically, North Caucasians are way closer to their southern neighbors than to Euros, so it makes sense to group them under the ME category if the South Caucasus is.

Anatolia and South Caucasus are also not Middle East in my opinion.

[Leto]

(North)West Asia, not the Middle East. But I'd say Krasnodar and Stavropol krai are already Europe.

[Wehrmacht]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Border_Asia.png


Geographically it's just a part of Asia, and precisely it's in the west Asia, it has also an incredibly rich biodiversity and stunning natural landscapes compared to those in Europe.

Culturally and linguistically they are also different from each other, the local beliefs separated into the two pieces whereas Christians feel closer to Europe, while Muslims feel closer to the Muslim world(doesn't matter about their geography), and paganism followers just focused on their own place.

[Flashball]

Just caucasians from Caucasus.

[Ryujin]

No, North Caucasus is not the Middle East. It's only included due to a stupid term called the 'Greater Middle East'.

The Middle East = Desert climate and Arabs (mostly).

[reboun]

It's only included due to a stupid term called the 'Greater Middle East'.


I agree. It is like creating a group called "Greater Europe" which also involves Morocco and Algeria.