Gagauz people
 |
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| approx. 240,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Moldova ( Gagauzia) |
147,500 |
 Ukraine
|
31,900 |
 Turkey
|
15,000 |
 Russia
|
13,700 |
 Romania
|
45 |
 Bulgaria
|
540 |
 Kazakhstan
|
700 |
| Languages | |
|
Gagauz Russian |
|
| Religion | |
| Majority Orthodox Christianity Minority Islam |
|
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Turkic peoples, Gajal | |
The Gagauz people are a Turkic-speaking group living mostly in southern Moldova (Gagauzia), southwestern Ukraine (Budjak), south-eastern Romania (Dobruja), northeastern Bulgaria, Greece, Brazil, United States and Canada. The Gagauz are Orthodox Christians. There is a related ethnic group also called Gagavuz (or Gajal) living in the European part of northwestern Turkey.
The Gagauzes, although speaking a Turkic language, belong genetically to the Balkan populations and the Gagauz language represents a case of language replacement. Gagauz belong to Y-DNA haplogroups I2a (23.6%), R1a (19.1%), G (13.5%), R1b (12.4%), E1b1b1a1 (11.1%). Haplogroups J2 (5.6%) and Haplogroup N (2.2%) are represented among Gagauzes at a usual frequency for many European and Balkan peoples. Finally, the phylogenetic analysis of Y-DNA situates Gagauzes most proximal to Macedonians, Serbs and other Balkan populations, resulting in a high genetic distance from the Turkish people and other Turkic peoples. According to a more detailed autosomal analysis of thousands of SNPs, not just of the sex chromosome, Gagauzes are most proximal to Macedonians, followed by Greek Macedonians apart from Thessaloniki, and others such as Bulgarians, Romanians and Montenegrins.
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Wikipedia