The Phylogeny of Kurdish Populations: A Genetic and Historical Review

Abstract

The Kurdish people represent one of the largest ethnolinguistic groups in the Middle East. Despite their demographic significance, their genetic origins and phylogenetic relationships remain incompletely characterized. This review synthesizes findings from uniparental genetic markers, HLA allele frequency studies, and ancient genomic analyses to reconstruct the phylogenetic history of Kurdish populations and their relationships with neighboring groups.

The available evidence converges on a model of deep genetic continuity rooted in the Neolithic and Bronze Age populations of the Northern Fertile Crescent and Zagros Mountains. Modern Kurds carry approximately 75–80% indigenous Near Eastern ancestry, with a minor Western Steppe component attributable to Iron Age Indo-Iranian migrations. Uniparental marker analyses are consistent with descent from early Anatolian and Zagrosian farmers, alongside mitochondrial haplogroups H and U reflecting ancient Near Eastern hunter-gatherer and farming substrata. HLA studies place Kurds within a Mediterranean–Middle Eastern genetic cluster, with closest affinities to Iranians, Armenians, and Georgians, and suggest a possible ancestral link to the Hurrian populations of the Bronze Age. Significant intra-Kurdish genetic heterogeneity exists, shaped primarily by geographic isolation and tribal endogamy rather than linguistic boundaries.

These findings refute models of wholesale population replacement by Central Asian migrants and instead support a continuity model in which Indo-Iranianization represented a linguistic and cultural overlay upon a pre-existing indigenous population. The phylogenetic stability of Kurdish populations since at least the Iron Age has important implications for medical genetics, including HLA-associated disease susceptibility and pharmacogenomic applications