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By and large, they look Middle Eastern. I have never mistaken Turks in London for European. That's maybe because I already know they are Turkish, which can influence perception. But to me, they generally give a strong a Middleeastern vibe but with subtle European and Mongoloid influences. Few can probably pass for Greek, but they are generally the minority. They look closest to Syrians, Lebanese, Middle Eastern Jews.
Eye colour, etc is not necessarily indication of race. I have seen pictures of children from Africa with light eyes. Generally, the Middle Easterners even when they are lighter pigmented tend to give a Middle East vibe, thought few exceptions when they can look European.
By and large, they look Middle Eastern. I have never mistaken Turks in London for European. That's maybe because I already know they are Turkish, which can influence perception. But to me, they generally give a strong a Middleeastern vibe but with subtle European and Mongoloid influences. Few can probably pass for Greek, but they are generally the minority. They look closest to Syrians, Lebanese, Middle Eastern Jews.
Eye colour, etc is not necessarily indication of race. I have seen pictures of children from Africa with light eyes. Generally, the Middle Easterners even when they are lighter pigmented tend to give a Middle East vibe, thought few exceptions when they can look European.
A mid-east "vibe" could be due to culture. Even so, it seems you're right about the majority of the population, according to the genetic studies. When I look at photos/videos of random crowds of Turks, I see what you mean. It seems that in the past, the videos I've seen focused on minority peoples.
In the US "white" is interchangeable with "European," but what I've learned recently is that "Hispanic" turned out to be a term used not only for people of Latin America/Mexico, but apparently for Spaniards/Portuguese as well!
Officially, however, the U.S. Government has defined Hispanic or Latino persons as being "persons who trace their origin or descent to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central and South America, and other Spanish cultures". This includes Spain and Portugal which is the origin of Hispanic/Iberian culture.[37]
And in American questionnaires you see this question quite often "are you a white of non-Hispanic origin?" Which apparently defines Spaniards as some OTHER groups of "whites" than your other regular European whites! All while Arabs were originally classified as "whites" in the US, with no further "definitions." ( May be now they started to rethink it - I dunno, but still there is something patently wrong with these definitions American way, and that's why I prefer to stick to my old ways of definitions; I don't go by any "Caucasian" definition American way either, but prefer a good old-fashion term "European," and not just "white."
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Since I grew up around them maybe I have a hard time noticing "their non European features". I also grew up around lots of white Americans, Bosnians, and these Turks.
If you grew up around your regular American "whites" - you'd know the difference with Turks and Bosnians right away, because "Bosnians" is yet another group of people of mixed origin - that's what it looks like to me, and it's not a surprise since they were Islamisized by Turks.
I can see a clear difference between the Russian part of my family and the Caucasian one - I can tell you that much.
But overall looking at your pictures I am surprised to see that Turks don't even look "Caucasian" ( as in native population of Caucasus) - I expected them to look more "alike" but it's not a case.
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Anyways Google Turkish celeberties to get a better feel. If the woman have blonde hair it's dyed BTW. Here are names if you want, Tarkan, Sertab Erener, Demet Alkalin, Gulsen, Murat Boz, Ajda Pekkan and Hadise.
Don't go by "celebrities" while thinking of the "common" look of people in this case, because the celebrities might be of very "European extraction" kind of look, that does not represent really the common look of general population.
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Although, on the ancestory DNA test I took Tukey is included under Caucasian Mountain area, I'm only like 6% but since I grew up and Turks I'm kinda Turkish. I knew all the celebrities. Turks culture seems pretty similar to the Bosnians,
No surprise, since Bosnians were UNDER Turks for quite some time.
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and Russians I knew.
Russians ( real ethnic Russians that is) can play along, but only UP TO a CERTAIN degree. And then some Russians can't do even that.
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Exept they were Islamic... But they were TOTALLY normal and NOT crazy at ALL. Seriously. They were extremely giving, hard working, and somewhat Islamic orthodox too. If you have any cultural questions I probably know the answer! But I don't know if all Turks have the same culture?
I would think that "Turkish culture" differs a great deal from cities ( and particularly on European territory) with the rest of Turkey, when it comes to life in villages in particular.
Not all of them.. read somewhere there's about 7% left with Greek blood/DNA. Those that look similar to Greeks, may in fact be Greek. The rest in Turkey are a mix of 40-45, maybe more ethic groups. They are a melting pot (part of Islamisation). The original Turks were the Seljuks (nomadic people), indeed Asian and not European at all. Byzantium had been weakened by the Crusades and the schism with the Western church(aka the Pope/Vatican), so eventually the Empire fell to these nomadic people.
Hittites, Phrygians and Lycians are ancient people in the region, same with Luwians and the Trojans, though the Trojans worshiped Greek gods (before they disappeared). There's a theory that some of their DNA may be found in Turkey today but for centuries, all of these were denizens of the Byzantine Empire(Eastern Roman Empire, basically a mix of Romans and Greeks). Before that Alexander the Great and his successor kings had them under his boot for several centuries, then the Romans arrived in the region ( a lot of interbreeding went on for a long time). Modern turks are a mix of different ethnic groups.
But this still does not answer my question - where the "Middle East" part comes in play - what part of Turkish population exactly was represented by this group?
Were Hittittes, Phrygians and Lycians "middle eastern people" or what? But even if they were, they wouldn't account for the majority of population anyway from what I understand, so how this whole "middle Eastern" thing came about, if the original Turks Seljuks were from Asia?
#8 Okay and lastly, if you guys want more pictures I can add more. But I think they look general white/European. This guy on the lower right tho makes me question a little? I think he looks Mongolian for some reason.. What do you guys think?
I also think people look different depending on where they come from in the country, but these people do look different to me than the Turks the OP posted so idk?
Mongolian? No way. He's just another variation on the general type. Of the group photo on your post above, the guy smack in the middle, with the white shirt, looks like he could be American. But otherwise, I can see what the OP is talking about. There's a lot of that J2 type, that one website said originated in what's now Iraq, and migrated west/northwest.
Here's a video that shows the variety of Indo-Euro types throughout Eurasia. There's a dark-haired Greek-looking woman there, who's labeled as Hittite, Luwian (etc.) type that represents Turkey.
Ruth, why would non-European population (overwhelmingly so,) look European?
I'm saying that just because there's this geographical demarcation between Europe and Asia doesn't mean that European-type populations stop at the dotted line on the map. That's not the way it works. The peopling of the world has been much more complex than that. But I agree with the OP now; the predominant type in Turkey is "Middle-Eastern".
Ruth, now I think about it, I think some Turks, more than I previously thought, could pass for Southern European. However, I still stick with my view that most don't.
Regarding Indo-Europeans, Middle Easterners, including Iranians, belong mostly to J haplogroups. The haplogroups associated with Indo-Europeans is scarce in that whole region.
I'm saying that just because there's this geographical demarcation between Europe and Asia doesn't mean that European-type populations stop at the dotted line on the map. That's not the way it works. The peopling of the world has been much more complex than that. But I agree with the OP now; the predominant type in Turkey is "Middle-Eastern".
well said.
"Asia" or "Europe" only exists in people's mind, not the real world. Speaking of "middle eastern" look, many Syrians and Lebanese for example look exactly like Europeans, some with pale skin and blonde hair.
"Asia" or "Europe" only exists in people's mind, not the real world. Speaking of "middle eastern" look, many Syrians and Lebanese for example look exactly like Europeans, some with pale skin and blonde hair.
Thank you. That photo is the sort of thing I've been looking for. Here are some Kurdish women; you can see there's some variety of types.
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( May be now they started to rethink it - I dunno, but still there is something patently wrong with these definitions American way, and that's why I prefer to stick to my old ways of definitions; I don't go by any "Caucasian" definition American way either, but prefer a good old-fashion term "European," and not just "white." 
