The maps of "kinship": Turks discover their... Greek DNA

One of the latest, enjoyable trends on TikTok wants young people from Turkey to post the results of their DNA tests. In most cases, a large percentage of origin from Greece is revealed, which dozens of Greek users on the platform comment with the phrase “welcome, our brother,” while causing a storm of questions from other users.

How genuine are they?

This trend is reminiscent, in a way, of the case of Ibrahim Yaylali, the Turkish ultranationalist, member of the “Grey Wolves” originally from Samsun, who had voluntarily enlisted in the Turkish army. Raised in the Islamic Turkish ideology, Yaylali had been taught to hate other peoples and so, as a trained commando (Special Forces sniper), he proudly declared in 1994 that he wanted to fight the Kurds of the PKK whom he hated so much.

The truth is that if he had been killed in the fierce battles with the organization led by Abdullah Öcalan, he would have been another martyr, a hero of the Turkish nation. But life had other plans. Yialaly was captured by the Kurds and held hostage for two years.

During this time, a series of coincidences and journalistic investigations revealed a shocking truth: Yialaly is a Pontic Greek. His grandfather was Konstantinos and his grandmother, Paraskevi, from the Yiala settlement of the Asar village. “If the Kurds had told me that I was Greek before I was captured, I would have cursed them,” he said.

Now free, Yialaly made a spectacular turn after seeing the truth. From being a member of the “Grey Wolves,” instead of spreading hatred, he began to speak about the historical truth of the Pontic Genocide. He was arrested and held in military prisons for months and released until he was tried on serious charges.

Today, Gialaly, who has changed his name to Giannis-Vassilis, is an activist - a supporter of Pontic truth and historical justice. A few months ago, he described the shocking story of his life at the events for the Pontic Genocide organized by the Municipality of Nicaea - Aghios Ioannis Rentis, in collaboration with the Pontic Association of Nicaea - Korydallos and the Rentis Beautification Cultural Association "Ionia". Previously, he knelt respectfully at the "Uprooting" monument of the Pontic Hellenism Park in Nicaea.

Back to DNA tests. Can they create new Gialalys? The truth is that this trend has created many new components. It has aroused the -natural- curiosity of many young people in the neighboring country to discover everything about their origins, but it has also created waves of effort to avoid using these new services. And on the other hand, many Greeks feel that they are finding their... lost brothers. But what happens to those who discover their Greek origins?

A common question that users from third countries usually ask Turks and Turkish women whose DNA test shows Greek origin is how they feel. That is, if the result made them feel differently. “I always felt an attraction to the Aegean, a special love, which is now explained,” says Ozge.

“I didn’t expect that I would be only 10% Turkish,” says Gyoze, whose test showed that she is 46% Greek. Göz, whose nickname was “Turkish girl,” is now being teased by users, mostly Greeks, who are wondering if she should change her nickname to “Greek girl,” even though she herself clearly states that she is Turkish.

Emre, whose test shows that he is 53.4% Greek, 11.6% of Central Asian origin, 10.2% of Georgian origin, and 9.4% of Turkish origin, is very happy to receive comments like “welcome to the family.”

“Affinity” maps: Turks discover their… Greek DNA

Emre found out that, according to the test, he is 53.4% Greek

“We are always people who remain people,” he comments, while in the comments of his publication there is a… party. “MyHeritage (the company that did the DNA test) is of Israeli interests and is headquartered in Israel. It aims to divide us,” writes a Turk, while a Greek comments that “Mother Greece opens her arms to all her lost children.”

Gamze says she took the test thinking it would make her “100% Turkish.” In reality, however, the test revealed that she is 45.8% of Greek descent, and since young Gamze is beautiful, her TikTok has been flooded with comments from Greeks who are proud of her their "beautiful sister" -some even in Turkish- and urge her to apply for Greek citizenship.

The maps of "kinship": Turks discover their... Greek DNA

Son Dokan also expected the DNA test to reveal him to be 100% Turkish. With 49.1% of Greek origin, he jokingly says that "now I have to state on my resume that I am half Greek and half Italian" (based on the rest of the test results). To the "welcome" of the Greeks, Son replies "welcome, I found you, what's for dinner", with some Greeks seriously responding that they are waiting for their... long-lost brother to be served at their home. And he himself is also seriously considering it, since he wonders if they will make him moussaka and what other dishes will be on the table.

With the trend “I took the DNA test thinking I would come out 100% Turkish” taking on enormous proportions, many are wondering why this is happening, with some Greeks explaining that these are Turkishized Greeks from Anatolia who survived the Genocide, but also Turks complaining that the results are fabricated by… the Mossad, which wants Turkey to do harm.

At the end of the day, however, Greeks and Turks wonder whether in a war between the two countries they would become “fratricidal” and engage in discussions with jokes like “since we are proven Greeks, we should annex Greece, because we will need some islands” and “you should start a revolution for union with mother Greece”.

Celebrities and the boycott

The issue of… revealing the identity of the DNA of Turks is anything but new. One only has to think that since (not so long ago) 2021 there have been calls in the neighboring country for a boycott of companies that do DNA tests, as well as similar discussions on all social media.

A more recent example of this, which even took on enormous proportions in Turkey, is that of the famous Turkish (?) youtuber Orkun Isitmak. Isitmak, whose YouTube channel has more than 10 million subscribers (that’s the size of… Greece) and who recently made his film debut, took a live DNA test. It revealed that his ancestry is 57% Greek and 84% European, sparking discussions upon discussions in the country.

And earlier, on Reddit, one of the most popular questions was from a Turk, who had uploaded a screenshot of his DNA test, asking why the results showed 69% Greek ancestry from West Asia and (again) 19.5% Greek and Italian from Europe.

The author said that “to my surprise, it showed no connection to my DNA from Central Asia, that is 0.0%. As far as I know, no one in my family, at least back to my great-grandparents, speaks Greek. Is it reasonable to assume that I am probably a Pontic Greek who was Islamized/Turkified long ago”?

Another Reddit user, with his analysis, tries to explain: “The area of modern Turkey has never been homogeneous. It is a huge country. Eastern Turks are much closer to Armenians/Upper Mesopotamians/Caucasians, with very little Turkish admixture. Western Turkey has some of the most real Turkish admixture (which remains a minority in their DNA), but the pre-Seljuk/Ottoman population (the majority of their DNA) was more western and similar to Cypriot and Dodecanese Greeks.

The pre-Turkish Orientals were not Mycenaeans, so they were not fully Greek, but they had extensive Hellenistic influence and there was a significant amount of Mycenaean/Greek admixture (30%-40% in Roman samples) in western Turkey. At the same time, there was also significant domestic oriental admixture (from Carians, Lycians, Lydians), as well as eastern oriental/Mesopotamian admixture.

Turkey is diverse. And the Turks are neither fully Turkish nor Turkified Greeks, but the result of complex migrations to Anatolia. As a Turk, I can say that the data is true.

And this does not surprise me much. It is obvious that the Turks began to migrate to Anatolia only 1,000 years ago. As the Turks became the dominant culture, the others assimilated over time. Maybe I'm Greek or Persian or Kurdish. It doesn't matter, in my opinion. I grew up as a Turk, so that's who I am, regardless of my ancestors."

Since the Middle Ages

Indicative are the maps circulating in Turkey and clearly show that Greek DNA prevails in areas where for thousands of years there were solid Greek populations.

At the same time, in the same provinces there are also large percentages of people with blond hair, characteristics that do not match those of the Turkish races.

The maps of "kinship": Turks discover the... Greek their DNA

Maps circulating in Turkey show that Greek DNA prevails in areas where for thousands of years there were solid Greek populations. At the same time, in the same provinces there are also large percentages of people with blond hair, characteristics that do not match those of the Turkish races

To support the above, another map of Ancestral Whispers is circulating on the Internet based on data from the Turkish DNA project, regarding the "kinship" of today's Turks with the Turks of the Middle Ages, from which it follows that in no region of Turkey is the DNA of modern Turks "kinship" to a percentage greater than 50% with that of the Turks of the Middle Ages.

These percentages start from 1%-2% on the NE borders of Turkey, in most of them they range from 15%-35% and only in a few areas (opposite the Dodecanese and in 2-3 other areas) do they exceed 40%, reaching up to 48%.

How… Greek is the Turk we have facing us?