# Population Genetics > mtDNA Haplogroups >  Circassian or Muslim Caucasian mtDNA?

## Emi

I'm trying to find out whether there are any dominant mtDNA groups among the Muslim Caucasians? In the Ottoman times, many tribes were simply grouped under the Circassian label -by both the Ottomans and the West-, even though their current descendants in Turkey seem to self-identify by specific tribe names. 

I'm particularly asking about the Muslim population since they seem to have moved in mass during the Russo-Turkish War in late 19th Century. My paternal grandmother (H13a2) was told her mother emigrated from Bulgaria to Istanbul in a mass move when she was at a very young age. We had always assumed them to be Muslim Bulgarians or Turks, but seems to me that they could also be one of the Caucus tribes who were settled there by the Ottomans.

----------


## barbarian

i didnt know that the caucasians were settled in bulgaria in ottoman era. i heard that some turkmen (especially alevi terkmen) were settled there. 

were they dark or browny?

----------


## Emi

They were quite light and pale, prone to age spots/moles, big hazel eyes, dark brown-chestnut hair, medium build, wide shoulders, long legs, small and bony ankles, knees and wrists

----------


## barbarian

> They were pretty much all quite light and pale, prone to age spots/moles, big hazel eyes, dark brown-chestnut hair, medium build, wide shoulders, long legs, small and bony ankles, knees and wrists


this description does not fit to turkmen

----------


## MPA

My MTDNA "W".

----------

