The Reason Ottoman Sultans Weren't Very Turkish

[Tigranes]

The Ottoman Empire ruled over what is now Turkey and a large portion of the eastern Mediterranean world from 1299 until 1923. The rulers, or sultans, of the Ottoman Empire had their paternal roots in Oghuz Turks of Central Asia, also known as the Turkmen.

The History of Concubine Mothers
However, most of the sultans' mothers were concubines from the royal harem — and most of the concubines were from non-Turkic, usually non-Muslim parts of the empire. Much like the boys in the Janissary corps, most concubines in the Ottoman Empire were technically members of the slave class. The Quran forbids the enslavement of fellow Muslims, so the concubines were from Christian or Jewish families in Greece or the Caucasus, or were prisoners of war from further afield. Some residents of the harem were official wives, as well, who might be noblewomen from Christian nations, married to the sultan as part of diplomatic negotiations.

Although many of the mothers were slaves, they could amass incredible political power if one of their sons became the sultan. As valide sultan, or Mother Sultan, a concubine often served as de facto ruler in the name of her young or incompetent son.

Ottoman Royal Genealogy
The Ottoman royal genealogy begins with Osman I (r. 1299 - 1326), both of whose parents were Turks. The next sultan likewise was 100% Turkic, but beginning with the third sultan, Murad I, the sultans' mothers (or valide sultan) were not of Central Asian origins. Murad I (r. 1362 - 1389) was 50% Turkish. Bayezid I's mother was Greek, so he was 25% Turkish.

The fifth sultan's mother was Oghuz, so he was 62.5% Turkish. Continuing in the fashion, Suleiman the Magnificent, the tenth sultan, had about 24% Turkish blood.

According to our calculations, by the time we get to the 36th and final sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed VI (r. 1918 - 1922), the Oghuz blood was so diluted that he was only about 0.195% Turkic. All of those generations of mothers from Greece, Poland, Venice, Russia, France, and beyond really drowned out the sultans' genetic roots on the steppes of Central Asia.

List of Ottoman Sultans and their Mothers' Ethnicities

1. Osman I, Turkish
2. Orhan, Turkish
3. Murad I, Greek
4. Bayezid I, Greek
5. Mehmed I, Turkish
6. Murad II, Turkish
7. Mehmed II, Turkish
8. Bayezid II, Turkish
9. Selim I, Greek
10. Suleiman I, Greek
11. Selim II, Polish
12. Murad III, Italian (Venetian)
13. Mehmed III, Italian (Venetian)
14. Ahmed I, Greek
15. Mustafa I, Abkhazian
16. Osman II, Greek or Serbian (?)
17. Murad IV, Greek
18. Ibrahim, Greek
19. Mehmed IV, Ukrainian
20. Suleiman II, Serbian
21. Ahmed II, Polish
22. Mustafa II, Greek
23. Ahmed III, Greek
24. Mahmud I, Greek
25. Osman III, Serbian
26. Mustafa III, French
27. Abdulhamid I, Hungarian
28. Selim III, Georgian
29. Mustafa IV, Bulgarian
30. Mahmud II, Georgian
31. Abdulmecid I, Georgian or Russian (?)
32. Abdulaziz I, Romanian
33. Murad V, Georgian
34. Abdulhamid II, Circassian
35. Mehmed V, Albanian
36. Mehmed VI, Georgian

https://www.thoughtco.com/ottoman-su...turkish-195760

[Voskos]

No armenians? Why?

[Tigranes]

It would be naive to think that nomadic Central Asian tribesmen were able to administer such great empires like Ottoman Empire, nomads were only good at pillaging and destroying cities, they literally didn't contribute anything to the mankind.

[Tigranes]

No armenians? Why?

Armenians were noble people, they refused to mix with the low-races, that's how Armenians preserved their genetic continuity for more than 4000 years.

[Voskos]

Looks like Armenians and Turks always refused to mix with eachother for political reasons.Greeks were a bit more liberal it seems.

[Ülev]

Poland stronk! where are our Polish warriors?

[Aspar]

Armenians were noble people, they refused to mix with the low-races, that's how Armenians preserved their genetic continuity for more than 4000 years.

That's bollocks...

It's not about refusing to mix or not because all those slave mothers of the Sultans didn't want to be slaves in the first place but ended up being and I doubt that the Turks cared much about the Armenians willing to mix or not but I am sure a great number of Armenians ended up as slaves, particularly in the Sultan's harem.

Now why there is no Armenian mother of a Sultan?
Probably they weren't that attractive to Turks as the European girls were, not much changed since then I would say!

[Adamm]

No armenians? Why?

Probably because white women from Europe are more attractive than women from the middle east?

[Tigranes]

Probably because white women from Europe are more attractive than women from the middle east?

That's not correct. Because Armenians were already part of the Ottoman Empire back then, while those European women were captured as slaves when Ottoman Empire invaded those lands.

[Tigranes]

Probably because white women from Europe are more attractive than women from the middle east?

It might be the case for the Moroccan women but there are genuinely attractive women exist in Middle Eastern countries such as Iran, Lebanon...