Anatolian Ancestry in Turks Is Extremely Exaggerated

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11-13-2025, 09:36 AM
Kross

Anatolian Ancestry in Turks Is Extremely Exaggerated

Many people say things like, “Turks are basically Turkified Anatolians”, and so on. Well, ladies and gentlemen, Byzantine era samples from Anatolia have already been published, and they’re genetically closer to every other ethnic group in the region than to Turkish people.

That’s quite interesting, because the so, called Iranian like ancestry found in Turkey is actually Turkic in origin. Meanwhile, the original Anatolians were more East Mediterranean, similar to Cypriots and Cretans.

https://i.imgur.com/6ZoOnMA.png

If we were to model the genetic makeup of modern Turkish people, I’d estimate it as roughly 50% Turkic (Turkmen from Turkmenistan) and 50% Anatolian. To approximate the Anatolian component, modern populations such as Dodecanese, Cypriots, Cretans, and Anatolian Greeks can serve as useful reference points.

https://i.imgur.com/75MrrYH.png
11-13-2025, 10:24 AM
Hektor12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kross

original Anatolians were more East Mediterranean, similar to Cypriots and Cretans.

1-Turks havent only mixed with Anatolians, theres something called Balkan Turks
2-Original Anatolians werent that homogenous to begin with. For example, in NW around Marmara Sea they were very close to Thracians.
11-13-2025, 10:28 AM
Kross

1 Attachment(s)

In short, modern day Turkish people are mixed race and only 40%-60% Anatolian. If you want to know what the Byzantine Anatolians were like, imagine a blend of Cypriots and mainland Greeks, without the Slavic input.

https://i.imgur.com/F3NZCMG.png
11-13-2025, 10:40 AM
Kross

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hektor12

1-Turks havent only mixed with Anatolians, theres something called Balkan Turks
2-Original Anatolians werent that homogenous to begin with. For example, in NW around Marmara Sea they were very close to Thracians.

I agree. I'd expect Balkan Turks to have roughly the same proportion of Turkic ancestry as Anatolian Turks.
11-13-2025, 11:35 AM
Bulkster

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kross

Many people say things like, “Turks are basically Turkified Anatolians”, and so on. Well, ladies and gentlemen, Byzantine era samples from Anatolia have already been published, and they’re genetically closer to every other ethnic group in the region than to Turkish people.

That’s quite interesting, because the so, called Iranian like ancestry found in Turkey is actually Turkic in origin. Meanwhile, the original Anatolians were more East Mediterranean, similar to Cypriots and Cretans.

https://i.imgur.com/6ZoOnMA.png

If we were to model the genetic makeup of modern Turkish people, I’d estimate it as roughly 50% Turkic (Turkmen from Turkmenistan) and 50% Anatolian. To approximate the Anatolian component, modern populations such as Dodecanese, Cypriots, Cretans, and Anatolian Greeks can serve as useful reference points.

https://i.imgur.com/75MrrYH.png

Sure, but let's not forget that these Greeks have high Anatolian ancestry, not SE European ancestry as in the case with the mainland and western Anatolian Greeks. In other words, Cypriots are predom. of Anatolian and Levantine origins with significant portion of their DNA tracing back to the ancient Greeks(Myceneans). One can even describe Cypriots as a "mixed race" group even rather than a pure European genetic grouping or something. Of course, much of their DNA resembles greatly to how certain ancient Greek groups like the Ionians were.
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qi...5a4ba0bf5fceb7
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qi...a1623d50bd8826
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qi...2d5af420f39542

You can see that the Ionian Greeks for example were mainly mixed between Mycenean Greek source(40%) with significant Levantine, Anatolian, and even some Caucasian elements here and there:
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qi...85d494ef661671
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qi...ffeef606a8651b

In other words, ancient IA Greeks were more closely related to genetic isolated groups of the Levant not to Northern Europeans at all like Germans. The Muslim Levantines have southern shiftiness due to admixture with Arabians and Africans to some extent.
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qi...f8510af01622ee
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5565772/

All in all, Cypriots are genetically the closest to other Greek groups that are the most similar to them, Lebanese Druze and Christians, Karaite Jewry and etc.
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qi...eda24efb8e061e

The genetic composition of modern Greek groups. With the exception of Cypriots, the Levantine genetic contribution remains very weak to all Greeks. It's also worth noting the Slavic input in the mainland as well.
https://i.ibb.co/PvS8WtZs/actual-g25...icb83rkd1.webp
https://www.reddit.com/r/illustrativ...el_for_greeks/
11-14-2025, 10:38 AM
Sonny001

A more realistic approach would be to use earlier Turkic sources with over 60% East Asian ancestry to measure Turkic ancestry, because medieval Turkic groups were already heavily mixed with Iranian and steppe populations.
11-14-2025, 11:00 AM
Kross

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bulkster

Sure, but let's not forget that these Greeks have high Anatolian ancestry, not SE European ancestry as in the case with the mainland and western Anatolian Greeks. In other words, Cypriots are predom. of Anatolian and Levantine origins with significant portion of their DNA tracing back to the ancient Greeks(Myceneans). One can even describe Cypriots as a "mixed race" group even rather than a pure European genetic grouping or something. Of course, much of their DNA resembles greatly to how certain ancient Greek groups like the Ionians were.
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qi...5a4ba0bf5fceb7
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qi...a1623d50bd8826
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qi...2d5af420f39542

You can see that the Ionian Greeks for example were mainly mixed between Mycenean Greek source(40%) with significant Levantine, Anatolian, and even some Caucasian elements here and there:
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qi...85d494ef661671
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qi...ffeef606a8651b

In other words, ancient IA Greeks were more closely related to genetic isolated groups of the Levant not to Northern Europeans at all like Germans. The Muslim Levantines have southern shiftiness due to admixture with Arabians and Africans to some extent.
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qi...f8510af01622ee
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5565772/

All in all, Cypriots are genetically the closest to other Greek groups that are the most similar to them, Lebanese Druze and Christians, Karaite Jewry and etc.
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qi...eda24efb8e061e

The genetic composition of modern Greek groups. With the exception of Cypriots, the Levantine genetic contribution remains very weak to all Greeks. It's also worth noting the Slavic input in the mainland as well.
https://i.ibb.co/PvS8WtZs/actual-g25...icb83rkd1.webp
https://www.reddit.com/r/illustrativ...el_for_greeks/

Muzzie science.
11-14-2025, 11:02 AM
Kross

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sonny001

A more realistic approach would be to use earlier Turkic sources with over 60% East Asian ancestry to measure Turkic ancestry, because medieval Turkic groups were already heavily mixed with Iranian and steppe populations.

Wrong. Iranian ancestry is foreign to western Anatolia as well; the Seljuks were 70% Iranian and 30% East Asian.
11-14-2025, 11:10 AM
Kross

We’re not measuring how "West Eurasian/Caucasoid" Turks are; we’re measuring how indigenous they truly are. Turkish DNA doesn't even remotely resemble Byzantine Anatolian DNA, Turks are mixed race.

Anatolian Byzantine:
https://i.imgur.com/j3wSfUU.png
11-14-2025, 11:57 AM
Kross

Turkish:
https://i.imgur.com/iRvrVTv.png
https://i.imgur.com/HuHPQ6Y.png
https://i.imgur.com/tItyyVC.png
https://i.imgur.com/9779Lh6.png