Is there any truth to claims that Ashkenazi Jews are Khazars?
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64 Answers
Werner Stein
Werner Stein, studied Natural Science; Dedicated Proponent of a Strictly Evidence-based Historiography
Updated Sep 16
I find the Jewish geneticist Eran Elhaik research (published in 2013) plausible, that more than 90% of the Ashkenazi Jews in Europe and the USA and Israel are genetically NOT linked to the biblical Hebrew, but are Khazars, Turkish people of an empire founded around 740 AD, whose barbaric leader forced everyone to convert to the Baghdad Talmud-religion.

The geneticists of the Oxford University found exactly the same as the Jewish geneticist Eran Elhaik: Modern "Jews" descended from the Khazars, an amalgam of Turkic clans that settled the Caucasus in the early centuries CE and converted to Jud...(more)
C.S. Friedman
C.S. Friedman
"Nearly ALL Palestinians had that "Cohen Gene" of the Jewish priests of the bible, whereas all Je...
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Shai Preter
Shai Preter, Israeli-Brazillian Torontonian that likes to know things
Updated Sep 17, 2016
To me these claims of Ashkenazi Jews being Khazars are absolutely ridiculous. They go against all understandings of history, logic, reason, and genetics. It demonstrates how desperate much of the world is to deny us the right to our ancestral homeland.

Let’s examine the actual history of the Khazars. The Khazars were a turkic tribe in central Asia that migrated to the Caucasus region around the 600’s and established an empire there. Originally they were Tengri but eventually they converted to Judaism during the 800’s (though today it’s believed that only the upper classes actually converted)...(more)
Alex Taller
Alex Taller
I admire your ability to give a reasonable, detailed answer to a question that is obviously nothi...
Marco Antunes
Marco Antunes, former Ashkenazi History and Khazar History.
Updated Jul 30
Originally Answered: What is the relationship between modern Ashkenazi Jews and the Khazars?
Dimashqi (1327):

"Ibn-al-Athir tells how in the days of Harun, the emperor of Byzantium forced the Jews to emigrate. They came to the Khazar country, where they found an intelligent but untutored race and offered them their religion. The inhabitants found it better than their own and accepted it."
There is a little genetic connection between Khazars and Ashkenazim- but I would say a bigger historical impact. I argue that Ashkenazim are from Babylon/Persia, and used the Khazarian state as gate way to trade and settle in Europe (See my answer here Marco Antunes's answer to What is the popular o...(more)
C. Arvinger

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Aric Lo
Aric Lo, Enthusiastic about history and science
Updated May 6, 2018
Everyone here was very quick dismissing the idea based on genetics, linguistics and written history of the Ashkenazic Jew.

I would refer you to the following post which shows how even if some of the Ashkenazi Jews do indeed have Khazar ancestors, it won’t show up in their genes Anonymous's answer to Are modern Jews descended from Khazars or from biblical Jews?.

Some points to consider though:

Genetics show that Ashkenazi Jews originate from a group of mainly middle eastern men who married mostly Italian women.
Ashkenazi Jews immigrated from the Italian peninsula to Central Europe, where they pi...
(more)
Yeshayahu Cohen
Yeshayahu Cohen
So presumably the ancestral component from Khazar Jews would be found in the Jews of Eastern Euro...
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