Ashkenazi Jews are largely descended from the Khazars
Extensive genome-wide population genetic studies have found no evidence supporting the hypothesis that Ashkenazi Jews are largely descended from the Khazars, instead showing primary ancestry derived from Middle Eastern and European populations.
The claim that Ashkenazi Jews are largely descended from the Khazars has been directly tested by comprehensive genome-wide association and population genetics studies (such as Behar et al. 2013). While an isolated earlier paper (Eran Elhaik 2012) argued for the Khazarian hypothesis, subsequent large-scale genomic analyses with extensive Caucasus and Middle Eastern reference panels decisively refuted any significant genetic contribution from the Khazars, showing instead a mix of Middle Eastern and European ancestry.
Eran Elhaik. The Missing Link of Jewish European Ancestry: Contrasting the Rhineland and the Khazarian Hypotheses. 2012. https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evs119
This study argues that the European Jewish genome contains Near Eastern-Caucasus ancestries that lend support to the Khazarian hypothesis.
Doron M. Behar, Mait Metspalu, Yael Baran, Naama M. Kopelman, Bayazit Yunusbayev, Ariella Gladstein, Shay Tzur, Hovhannes Sahakyan, Ardeshir Bahmanimehr, Levon Yepiskoposyan, Kristiina Tambets, Э. К. Хуснутдинова, Alena Kushniarevich, Oleg Balanovsky, Elena Balanovsky, Lejla Kovačević, Damir Marjanović, Evelin Mihailov, Anastasia Kouvatsi, Costas Triantaphyllidis, Roy King, Ornella Semino, Antonio Torroni, Michael F. Hammer, Ene Metspalu, Karl Skorecki, Saharon Rosset, Eran Halperin, Richard Villems, Noah A. Rosenberg. No Evidence from Genome-Wide Data of a Khazar Origin for the Ashkenazi Jews. 2013. https://doi.org/10.3378/027.085.0604
Comprehensive genome-wide analysis shows no particular genetic similarity between Ashkenazi Jews and populations from the Caucasus or the historical Khazar region.
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Doron M. Behar, Mait Metspalu, Yael Baran, Naama M. Kopelman, Bayazit Yunusbayen, Ariella Gladstein, Shay Tzur, Hovhannes Sahakyan, Ardeshir Bahmanimehr, Levon Yepiskoposyan, Kristiina Tambets, Э. К. Хуснутдинова, Alena Kushniarevich, Oleg Balanovsky, Elena Balanovsky, Lejla Kovačević, Damir Marjanović, Evelin Mihailov, Anastasia Kouvatsi, Costas Triantaphyllidis, Roy King, Ornella Semino, Antonio Torroni, Michael F. Hammer, Ene Metspalu, Karl Skorecki, Saharon Rosset, Eran Halperin, Richard Villems, Noah A. Rosenberg. No Evidence from Genome-wide Data of a Khazar Origin for the Ashkenazi Jews. 2013. https://doi.org/10.1353/hub.2013.a548065
Large-scale genomic data reveals that Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry derives primarily from Middle Eastern and European populations, contradicting a significant Khazar genetic contribution.
Doron M. Behar, Mait Metspalu, Yael Baran, Naama M. Kopelman, Bayazit Yunusbayev, Ariella Gladstein, Shay Tzur, Hovhannes Sahakyan, Ardeshir Bahmanimehr, Levon Yepiskoposyan, Kristiina Tambets, Э. К. Хуснутдинова, Alena Kushniarevich, Oleg Balanovsky, Elena Balanovsky, Lejla Kovačević, Damir Marjanović, Evelin Mohailov, Anastasia Kouvatsi, Costas Triantaphyllidis, Roy King, Ornella Semino, Antonio Torroni, Michael F. Hammer, Ene Metspalu, Karl Skorecki, Saharon Rosset, Eran Halperin, Richard Villems, Noah A. Rosenberg. No Evidence from Genome-wide Data of a Khazar Origin fo the Ashkenazi Jews. 2013. https://doi.org/10.13110/humanbiology.85.6.0859
This replication of the 2013 genome-wide study further confirms the absence of any detectable genetic contribution from the Khazars to the Ashkenazi gene pool.
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