Why I Started?

When did my interest in my origins begin? And what was the Catalyst?

I started DNA research after a conversation with a user on the internet who claimed to be "Real Turk."

According to him, the percentage of "Real Turkishness" in the place where my grandparents were born was 0%. He was a scientist and had conducted his research. Instead of burying my head in the sand, I should believe the scientific data and get a DNA test.

He told me this, but of course, it wasn't just this. The real Turks in Turkey were only distributed in certain regions: Western Anatolia (Muğla-Balıkesir Axis), the nomads (Yörüks) of Antalya-Mersin, the province of Ordu, and only the Vakfıkebir district of Trabzon. In other places, although Turkish genes were in the minority, they were still present. But when it came to regions like Artvin-Ardahan-Kars, according to him, looking for any sign of Turkishness would be an absurdity.

Apparently, historical migrations came with a very strict GPS setting: 'You have arrived in Vakfıkebir. Destination reached. Warning: Do NOT proceed to Artvin, or your DNA will be deleted.

So, according to this logic, 'Real Turkishness' is like a rare Pokémon that only spawns in Muğla and Vakfıkebir? I guess the rest of us in Anatolia are just NPCs (Non-Playable Characters) in the simulation.

It is fascinating how genes seemingly respect district borders. I imagine a DNA helix stopping right at the border of Ordu, looking at Artvin, and saying, 'Nope, too risky, let's turn back.'

Because as we all know, genetics works exactly like a VIP guest list—if you're not from Vakfıkebir, you're not on the list.

This assertion was in stark conflict with the oral history I had been taught by my family. Was this a moment of enlightenment for me, or was I facing a new generation of scientific dogma?

The existence of phenomena such as the devshirme system in the Ottoman past further fueled this curiosity. As a modern individual with a healthy trust in science, I had to see the other side of the coin. Perhaps our family history was far more complex and vulnerable than we previously thought?

My Family's Oral History: Crimea, the '93 War, and the Cuman-Kipchak Legacy

My family's oral tradition told a completely different story: Among the things I was told was that we were Cuman-Kipchak, that we were not Ottoman Turks, and that we were people who fled from Kırım - Crimea (or Kırım : Genocide) during a war called the 93' (religious Calendar) War in Turkey. I had probably thought for a long time that we were some kind of Crimean Turk.

https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/93_Harbi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Turkish_War_(1877%E2%80%931878)