Turanians

Turanian is a controversial term that has been used in references to diverse groups of people. It has currency in Turkish nationalism, Turanism, Turanian Society and Pan-Turkism.
Many of the uses of the word are obsolete. It may be:

• an Iranian ethnic group mentioned in the Avesta, see Turan.
• any historical people of Transoxiana or present-day Turkistan.
• any historical Ural–Altaic people, in particular:
  • the Turkic peoples during Turkic expansion.
  • the Huns described by the Europeans and Chinese.
  • the Mongols, who are distantly related to the Turks.
  • some sources has mentioned the Japanese people.
• The Sami or Lapps of northern Scandinavia.
• Finno-Ugric peoples like the Finns, Estonians and Hungarians.
• the Dravidian people of southern India and Pakistan are theorized to have Turanian ancestors.
• speakers of Caucasian Languages.
• non-Semitic and non-Indo-European peoples of the Late Bronze Age were theorized to have Turanian ancestors, see Hurro-Urartian and Etruscans.
• The Basques of western Europe (northern Spain and southwest France) were theorized to have Turanian ancestors.
• Turanianism promotes the idea of Turanians are the oldest ethnocultural groups of humanity, and how East Asians, sub-Saharan Africans, white Caucasians or Indo-Europeans ("Aryans"), and indigenous peoples of the Americas are theoratic descendants of a former Turanian "race" of the last ice age.
• the term has currency in Turkish nationalism, Turanism, Turanian Society and Pan-Turkism.

See also

• Turan
• Turanism
• Altaic peoples
• Uralic peoples
• Turkic peoples