Are Turkish people genetically Central Asian?

Mostly not. Genome-wide studies consistently find that the largest component of Turkish ancestry is Anatolian, continuous with the Roman and Byzantine population of the peninsula and ultimately with its Neolithic farmers. The Central Asian Turkic component is real but a minority, typically a tenth of the genome or less, and higher in central and eastern Anatolia than in the west.

How much Turkic ancestry do Anatolian Turks have?

Estimates of the East Eurasian-related component range from a few percent to about fifteen percent depending on the study, region and reference populations, with most results near ten percent or below. Because the medieval Oghuz migrants were themselves partly West Eurasian, the total contribution of the migration was somewhat larger than that fraction.

Are Turks closer to Greeks or to Central Asians?

To Greeks, Armenians and other neighbours of Anatolia and the Aegean. On a principal component plot, Anatolian Turks sit within West Asia, shifted slightly toward East Asia by the Turkic component, but far from Central Asian Turkic speakers such as Kazakhs or Kyrgyz, whose genomes are majority East Eurasian.

Did the Hittites have steppe ancestry?

The published Bronze Age individuals from the Hittite core lack steppe-related ancestry in the Southern Arc models. This is one reason the origin of the Anatolian branch of Indo-European is still debated: the steppe ancestry that accompanied Indo-European languages into Europe did not accompany them into Anatolia.

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September 2, 2026

By Andi Thomaj

8 min read

Turkish DNA: Ancient Origins from Neolithic Anatolia to the Ottomans

Turkish ancestry through ancient DNA: the Anatolian farmer substrate, the Southern Arc results, Byzantine Anatolia, the modest Turkic layer and qpAdm.

turkish anatolia ancient-dna qpadm population-genetics

The Anatolian Neolithic substrate
Chalcolithic and Bronze Age: the eastern streams arrive
A dated timeline for ancestry in Anatolia
Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Anatolia
The Central Asian Turkic layer
Balkan and Caucasus contributions
What the Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA add
Limitations
Frequently asked questions about Turkish DNA

Are Turkish people genetically Central Asian?
How much Turkic ancestry do Anatolian Turks have?
Are Turks closer to Greeks or to Central Asians?
Did the Hittites have steppe ancestry?
How to model Turkish ancestry with qpAdm
Sources and further reading

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Turkish DNA: Ancient Origins from Neolithic Anatolia to the Ottomans

Contents

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