Azerbaijan mtDNA

Source for all of this information is here - Azeri Genetics

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Mohammad Asgharzadeh, Hossein Samadi Kafil, Ahmad Ranjbar, Ali Rahimipour, Kazem Najati, and Mohammad Rahbani Nobar. "Molecular diversity of mitochondrial DNA in Iranian Azeri ethnicities vis-à-vis other Azeris in Asia." Iranian Journal of Biotechnology 9:2 (April 2011). 133 ethnic Azeri people from Iran's Azerbaijan region were tested on their mtDNA. Excerpts from the abstract:

"[...] Fourteen haplogroups were characterized from which 82% were identified as European specific haplogroups. The H haplogroup was the most frequent and 79 haplotypes were specified. In this study, the Iranian Azeri population was found to be a heterogenic population where all the specific haplogroups of Asians, Europeans and Africans were present in the studied population. Comparing the haplogroups of the present investigation with other populations indicated a very close similarity with other Iranian populations, but was different from haplogroups of other Asian populations who also speak the Azeri language." Excerpts from the middle of the study:
"[...] 14 haplogroups were found, where more than 90% of the Azeri population belonged to the I, U, K, T, J, H, HV, W and X haplogroups. The most prevalent of these was the H haplogroup (25.57%) followed by the U haplogroup (20.3%). From the European haplogroups, 8 haplogroups H, I, J, K, T, U, W, X were found in 109 Azeris (81.96%) the West Asian haplogroup, HV, was found to be present in 13 Azeris (9.77%). Three Azeris (2.26%) with the N haplogroup and 4 others with unknown haplogroups (3%) were also observed. From the 8 Asian haplogroups (A-G, M), the A, M and D haplogroups were found in 3 Azeris (2.26%) and the African haplogroup (L) was observed in one Azeri subject (0.75%) (Table 2). [...] In this population, specific European (H, I, J, K, T, U, V, W, X), Asians (M, A, D) and African (L) haplogroups of the mtDNA have been observed, but most of this population (82%) possess the European specific haplogroups. [...] Considering the similarity between the Azeri and Iranian haplogroups (Table 3), it can be concluded that the Iranian population have been living in Azerbaijan since ancient times, and a small ethnic group who spoke the Altaic language subsequently invaded this region, as confirmed by historical documents. In the 11th century this region was invaded by 'Seljuq' Turks (Gharagheshlaghi et al., 2007) and 'Oghuz' nomadic riders (Johanson et al., 1998)."

Ivan Nasidze, Tamara Sarkisian, Azer Kerimov, and Mark Stoneking. "Testing hypotheses of language replacement in the Caucasus: evidence from the Y-chromosome." Human Genetics 112 (2003): pages 255-261. This study showed that some Azeris of Azerbaijan are closely related to Armenians and Kurds, and not very related to other Turkic-speaking peoples. This is because Azeris descend primarily from an indigenous people that adopted the Turkic language later on. Abstract:

"A previous analysis of mtDNA variation in the Caucasus found that Indo-European-speaking Armenians and Turkic-speaking Azerbaijanians were more closely related genetically to other Caucasus populations (who speak Caucasian languages) than to other Indo-European or Turkic groups, respectively. Armenian and Azerbaijanian therefore represent language replacements, possibly via elite dominance involving primarily male migrants, in which case genetic relationships of Armenians and Azerbaijanians based on the Y-chromosome should more closely reflect their linguistic relationships. We therefore analyzed 11 bi-allelic Y-chromosome markers in 389 males from eight populations, representing all major linguistic groups in the Caucasus. As with the mtDNA study, based on the Y-chromosome Armenians and Azerbaijanians are more closely-related genetically to their geographic neighbors in the Caucasus than to their linguistic neighbors elsewhere. However, whereas the mtDNA results show that Caucasian groups are more closely related genetically to European than to Near Eastern groups, by contrast the Y-chromosome shows a closer genetic relationship with the Near East than with Europe."

Tatiana Zerjal, R. Spencer Wells, Nadira Yuldasheva, Ruslan Ruzibakiev, and Chris Tyler-Smith. "A Genetic Landscape Reshaped by Recent Events: Y-Chromosomal Insights into Central Asia." American Journal of Human Genetics 71:3 (September 2002): pages 466-482. Azeri people descend to a small extent from Central Asians, as reflected by the Y-DNA haplogroup H12. Azeris have more Central Asian ancestry than Armenians and Georgians do. Excerpt from the middle of the study:

"The expanding waves of Altaic-speaking nomads involved not only eastern Central Asia [...] but also regions farther west, like Iran, Iraq, Anatolia, and the Caucasus, as well as Europe, which was reached by both the Huns and the Mongols. In these western regions, however, the genetic contribution is low or undetectable (Wells et al. 2001), even though the power of these invaders was sometimes strong enough to impose a language replacement, as in Turkey and Azerbaijan (Cavalli-Sforza et al. 1994)."

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