Ethnic make-up of Turks

[The Wizard]

The Turks, like the Mongols, are Asiatic. But they are not Mongol-Tungusic. They are Altaic, like all Turkic peoples.

The Turks first assessed their position in history under the Köktürk khanate, which is Old Turkish for 'Blue Turks' or 'Celestial Turks'. The collapse of that power (including the second, or eastern Köktürk khanate) in Central Asia and Mongolia led to several of the tribes living under its rule to migrate to the west, such as the Bulgars and the Khazars. Although it must be noted that the newest theories propose the ancient Bulgars as being Iranian, like the Alans.

What remained were the Tokhuz Oghuz (Old Turkish for 'Nine Tribes'), from which the Oghuz sprang, from which such powers as the Selçuks and Ghaznavids emerged as they migrated through Iran. I do imagine that there was 'crossbreeding' as the biological term goes, but not so much as to make the Turks radically different from their cousins in a nation like Turkmenistan. Their 'whiteness' can be attributed to their pretty cold nation -- like the Arabs, Berbers and Jews, they remain very white when not exposed a lot to the sun, while getting an olive color if they are.

The Turks are a distinct ethnical identity, and are related to the Turkmenbashi of Turkmenistan, as they are to the other Turkic nations such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Not sure if Kyrgyzstan is Turkic, though, while Tajikistan is Iranian (Tajiks are the last remaining Transoxanian Iranians).



~Wiz