Why is there no epicanthic fold in Anatolian Turks, or why don’t they look Turkic?
The suggestion contains a false premise. A lot of Anatolian Turks including myself do have epicanthic fold, but of course, it’s less prominent than what East Asians have. Have a careful look at this photo collection. It contains hundreds of photos many of which state the person’s name and province/city of origin in the file name.
The existence of epicanthic fold, prominent cheekbones and flat/petite noses in Anatolian Turks is explained by the fact that Anatolian Turks have a significant percentage of “Mongoloid” admixture.
Maternal “Mongoloid” ancestry:
Paternal “Mongoloid” ancestry:
Autosomal “Mongoloid” DNA (inherited from both patents):
For those who don’t know, the terms “East Eurasian” and “West Eurasian” are the politically correct alternatives to “Mongoloid” and “Caucasoid” respectively.
Here is an analysis comparing modern Turkish DNA samples from southwestern Anatolia with skeletal DNA samples from the early-medieval Türk (Kök Türk), Kimak (Eastern Kypchak), Karluk, Karakhanid burial sites in eastern Kazakhstan and with skeletal DNA samples from several ancient West Asian and East European populations. Please bear in mind that those early-medieval Turkic peoples weren’t Oghuz and spoke Non-Oghuzic languages whereas Turkish people speak an Oghuzic dialect.
Besides, there is this study done by Italian and Turkish biologists ‘genomically rediscovering’ the already known fact that Central Asians didn’t mass-migrate to Anatolia in a single wave following the 11th century Seljuk conquest, but rather, in multiple waves that continued up to the 15th century. It’s referred to as the continious immigration model in the study.
- Yeah duh! After the early 13th century Mongol conquest of Khwarezmia (a territory that had been ruled by the Karluk Turkic Ghaznavids, the Oghuz Turkic Seljuq dynasty and then the Kypchako-Oghuz Khwarazmian dynasty) a large population of Turkmens escaped to Anatolia and founded the Anatolian beyliks including the Ottoman Beylik. Ertogrul, the father of Osman (Ottoman) I was born in Merv, Turkmenistan. Teke tribe that founded the Teke Beylik in southwestern Anatolia and gave its name to Anatolia’s Teke Plateau and Teke Peninsula was a Turkmen tribe formed under the rule of Khwarazmian dynasty. It’s the most numerous one among the present-day Turkmen tribes in Turkmenistan. Teke tribe wasn’t among the original 24 Oghuz tribes, nor dit it exist in the Seljuk era. Also, the late 13th century Ilkhanate conquest and the late 14th century Timurid conquest of Anatolia brought the third and fourth major migratory waves of semi-nomadic Central Asians.
Even though the authors do mention “the Oghuz Turks” and “the Oghuz invasion” of Anatolia and state the fact that “The Turkic language was introduced in Anatolia at the start of this millennium, by nomadic Turkmen groups from Central Asia”, they took modern Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Kyrgyzes (all non-Oghuz) as proxies for those Oghuz/Turkmen conquerors and have included no Turkmen samples whatsoever in their study. As a result, they conclude that Turkish people have roughly 30% Turkic admixture. This is ridiculous. Kyrgyzes have Para-Mongolic and Mongolic admixtures; Kazakhs have even more Mongolic ancestry than Kyrgyzes do as evidenced by genetics and tribe/clan names; Uyghurs have Tocharian, Khotanese Saka, Tumshuqese Saka, Chinese, Para-Mongolic, Mongolic admixtures whereas the Oghuz-Turkmen conquerors of Anatolia didn’t have any of those.
The authors also state that “if the Turkmen incomers were not too different from the modern Turkic-speaking groups of Central Asia”. Well, studies on the medieval-era Turkic burial sites and skeletal remains in Central Asia show that medieveal Oghuzes, Kypchaks and other Turkics were genetically and phenotypically really different from modern Kazakhs and Kyrgyzes.
The authors’ statement that “before 992 AD, the Oghuz tribes were located in what is now Kirghizistan (Endress, 1988)” is another misleading one. Only the small, easternmost groups of Oghuzes were located in Kyrgyzstan at that time; one such group is the ancestor of modern Salar people living in China and speaking the most divergent Oghuzic language. The main bulk of Oghuzes had been living in western Kazakhstan, northwestern Uzbekistan and northwestern Turkmenistan as the eastern neighbours of the East European Khazars since 750 and founded the Oghuz Yabgu State there in 766. The medieval Seljuks and modern Turkmens were directly descended from the pre-Islamic (Tengriist) inhabitants of the Oghuz Yabguate.
Oghuz faces that were reconstructed on the skulls excavated from the pre-Islamic Yabguate-era Oghuz sites in Kazakhstan:
While they were in Kazakhstan, the Oghuz were already racially mixed and they looked more Caucasoid than today’s Kazakhs do. The craniological analysis on the male skulls excavated in Kazakhstan shows that the Turkic men of Kazakhstan were 50% Mongoloid right before the 12th century Qara Khitai (a Para-Mongolic people) conquest and the 13th century Mongol conquest happened. The present-day Kazakh men are 70% Mongoloid.
It’s relevant here to mention that various modern Kazakh tribes and clans bear Mongolic names deriving from the names of historical Mongol tribes mentioned in The Secret History of the Mongols. For example, Dulat<Dughlat, Zhalayir<Jalair, Nayman<Naiman, Qongirat<Khongirad, Ongud, Kiyat, Mangytay<Manghud, Merkit, Kereit, Darhan<Darkhan (known as Darkhad [the Mongolic plural form of Darkhan] in Mongolia).
Facial reconstructions of Kypchak (the linguistic ancestors of Kazakhs) skulls excavated from the medieval Kypchak sites in Kazakhstan:
We also have the gonosomal analysis of the skeletal remains excavated from the archaeological sites of various early medieval Turkic peoples in Mongolia and the Central Steppe (Eastern Kazakhstan + Dzungaria) and around Tian Shan mountains (Kyrgyzstan).
The Oghuz became even more Caucasoid over time, after they migrated southwards into Transoxiana and Khorasan.
The late 11th century Seljukid Oghuz men and women in typical medieval Turkic attire and a Persian diplomat holding a paper, kneeling before Sultan Bärkyaruq Khan as depicted in a Persian miniature:
The early 12th century Seljukid Oghuz men and women in typical medieval Turkic attire, accompanying Sultan Ahmad Sanjar Khan as depicted in a Persian miniature:
Self-depictions of Seljukid Oghuzes:
The authors seem to be ignorant of the fact that Kyrgyz people came from Altai-Sayan region in southern Siberia in the 17th century AD under the pressures of famine and the Oirat/Dzungar Mongols (referred to as the Qalmaq in Epic of Manas) who were the ancestors of modern Kalmyks. According to a passage in the epic, the 17th-century Kyrgyz hero Manas Batyr was born in Altai, near Ertısh (Irtysh) river. See the section about Epic of Manas in this Turkish Wikipedia article (use Google translate):
The source below also confirms what I’m saying on the Altaian Kyrgyz migration into Central Asia in the 17th century:
Central Asian Cultures, Arts, and Architecture
Comparative linguistics supports that as well. Kyrgyz language is sister to Southern Altai language but it has been influenced by Kypchak.
Genetic studies, too, confirm the close relation between the Central Asian Kyrgyz and the southern Altaians.
I mean, those Italian and Turkish scientists chose a Siberian non-Oghuz people of mixed Turkic-Mongolic descent that arrived in eastern Central Asia only in the 17th century as a representative of the medieval Oghuz population that had lived in western Central Asia since the 8th century. Isn’t it just amazing?! Not to mention the fact they didn’t take into account the effects of Genetic drift.
It’s akin to comparing Serbo-Croatian speakers with Russians to find out the “Slavic Genetic Impact on the Western Balkans” or comparing English people with Norwegians to find out the “Germanic Genetic Impact on England”. As you know, Serbo-Croats are South Slavic whereas Russians are East Slavic and heavily mixed with Volga Finns so Russian genetic makeup can’t be representative of the ancestral South Slavic genetic makeup. Likewise, the Angle, Saxon, Jute and Frisian conquerors of England were West Germanic whereas Norwegians are North Germanic and have lots of Saamic and Finnic admixture so they can’t be a proxy for the ancestral West Germanic population. Researchers usually don’t do such mistakes when it comes to European populations but they often show a complete disregard for the internal classification of the Turkic family and the distinct ethnogeneses and histories of its branches.
The Turks of Turkey are phenotypically and genetically more similar to the Turkmens of Turkmenistan and the Oghuz minority of Uzbekistan living in Xorazm than they’re to all other Central Asians. If the authors chose only the Oghuz-speakers in Central Asia instead, they would detect a higher genetic similarity to Turkish people.
Even 40–50% in some provinces of Anatolia. The charts below compares the genetic makeups of Turkmenistani people, Turkish people and pre-Turkic Anatolians with each other.
The charts below show autosomal genetic distance of modern Turkish regional groups to medieval and modern Central Asian and Siberian samples in contrast to their autosomal genetic distance to Greek individuals originating from the same region as the sampled Turkish individuals. The sampled Turkish people appear to be most closely related to Turkmens, except for the Black Sea Turkish individuals in the last chart, who show affinity with Kypchak Turkic samples instead. (It’s historically documented that there have been several waves of migration of the medieval Kypchaks of Georgia to northeastern Anatolia.)
Besides, Anatolian Turks, in general, genetically cluster with peoples of the Caucasus and northern Iran including Turkic ones such as Azeris, Kumyks, Balkars, Karachays, Nogais.
Anyway, a better suggestion would be: Why is the epicanthic fold in Anatolian Turks not as frequent and prominent as it’s in Kazakhs and Kyrgyzes?
Well, because:
- Anatolian & Balkan Turks gradually absorbed a large number of Caucasoid individuals from the Caucasus, Anatolia and Southeast Europe.
- Turkic conquerors of Anatolia weren’t as “Mongoloid” as modern Kyrgyzes and Kazakhs that absorbed a lot of Mongolic (and Para-Mongolic) tribes and clans due to the 12th century Qara Khitai conquest, the 13th century Mongol conquest and the 17th — 18th century Dzungarian Oirat a.k.a. Kalmyk/Qalmaq invasions. The Turkic inhabitants of Central Asia prior to the Khitan and Mongolic invasions were biracial people whose “Mongoloid” component was less than 50%. Also, read this article (with the help of Google Translate): https://www.academia.edu/9887872/Mo%C4%9Follar%C4%B1n_K%C4%B1rg%C4%B1zlar_ve_Kazaklar_%C3%9Czerindeki_Tesirleri
In addition
(The autosomal heritage of Pre-Turkic Anatolians is still here. Using PuntDNAL K12, Anatolian_NF component is 67% for Sardinians, 38% for Cappadocian Greeks, 35% for Armenians, 28% for Anatolian Turks, 17% for Ashgabat Turkmens. Kök-Türük samples show us that Turks were already “mixed” when they came to Anatolia.)
The Central Asian Turks that are linguistically and culturally closest to Anatolian Turks are Turkmens and the speakers of Oghuz Uzbek (referred to as “Og’iz O’zbek” in standard Uzbek). Their epicanthic fold is also less prominent and less frequent than that of Kazakhs and Kyrgyzes. Their other facial features are less “Mongoloid” too.
