Turkish Genetic Rhetoric

The rise of mainstream Turkish nationalism is a trend that seems to be getting worse and worse.  Recently, the Turkish nationalist group titled, “Turkish DNA Program” has taken to social media and publicly denounced AncestoryDNA, one of the largest privatized genealogy companies in the world.

The Turkish DNA Program called for all Turks to “boycott” AncestryDNA in a recent post on twitter.

The Turkish DNA Program went on to state that, “AncestryDNA prioritizes to demonize the Turkish people and delegitimize their presence in Turkey rather than giving information about the genetic structure of the relevant population.”

The main reason for their hostility is due to AncestryDNA highlighting that many Turkish citizens are unrelated to the Turkic peoples of Central Asia and are rather native Anatolian people that have been “Turkified”.

In their own words, The Turkish DNA Program is a community project that was founded in 2015. The data collected and published is comprised of DNA tests that have been organized based on certain ethnic and geographical criteria’s that they have set.

What they fail to mention is that they are group of pseudo scientists who cherry pick data to fit their nationalist narrative. Data is user submitted and peer verified in the opaquest way possible. Couple this with woeful capabilities and anecdotal attestation and you got yourself an organization that prides itself on ignorance.

Time and again we have seen groups like these act as echo chambers for nationalists to sound off about their grievances with the scientific community, by providing “alternative” facts that can only be classified as mythology with graphs and charts.

It should be noted that the Turkish DNA Project already deleted their older tweets of fake genetic graphs and so-called results that presented Turkish citizens as having higher amounts of Turkish DNA than actual reality.

In a previous article, we touched on how Turks on social media were reacting to their ancestral lineage. Needless to say, many were not happy with their findings, with some even contemplating suicide. What was once just scattered voices online have now come together to form an organization of misinformation.

Before it was just individuals going against science, now we have organized groups attacking the scientific community.

Not only are they attacking the scientific community, but they are taking it a step further to the point that would rouse even the most die-hard conspiracy theorist. This type of group does nothing but solidify the idea that nationalist supporters of pure “Turkishness” are completely devoid of logic and reason.

However, when groups such as these are created and gain support, they become harder to ignore and dispel. These groups spread dangerous rhetoric and should be denounced as soon as they appear.

It is important to note that throughout all the noise and commotion there are individuals who have been championing these DNA revelations.

Yannis Vasilis Yaylalı is a former Turkish ultranationalist turned Greek activist after discovering his true Greek heritage.  Yannis has made it his goal to give voice to those who are scared of coming out with their true ancestral heritage.

“I want to give them courage. I am not calling on people to be nationalistic but they should embrace their values and identities,” he explained.

Uzay Bulut is a Turkish born journalist, who responded to the Turkish DNA Project allegation in a slew of tweets she posted herself.

“Why are Turkish nationalists so terrified of the truth? Because if they face it, the lies they’ve come up with will be shattered to the ground,” she said on Twitter.

“Through these lies, hatred has grown which made them commit so many crimes against Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians, Jews and others,” Bulut said.

“Then they will realize that by destroying those peoples, they’ve actually destroyed their own ancestors and cultural heritage,” the journalist said, adding: “The truth will set us all free and bring much needed peace to the region.”

It is comforting to see people from the Turkish community who understand that embracing your heritage is not a crime. These types of responses provide a semblance of coherent thoughts that cut through the nationalist cacophony of xenophobic sentiments. The nationalist obsession with territorial revanchism, racial purity and denialism does nothing but stifle any meaningful discourse and reconciliation.

We ourselves hope to provide a safe space for those who are afraid of coming out and celebrating their ancestral linage. Your history is something that should not only be celebrated by you, but by the world.