The Khazars

Indeed, the last word is not said, because there were Turkic peoples that contributed to the definitive formation of the Hungarian nation: Khazars/Kabars, Kumans (Kipchak) and, in a lesser amount, the Besenyö (Pechenegs). Historically, the most relevant of them have been the Khazars, with whom the Magyars had intensive interaction as allies, subjects, confederates, neighbours or rivals. When the Khazar empire collapsed, they were welcomed by the Magyars in their already conquered Danubian land. Both peoples had similar languages, so that they were understandable to each other. The Khazar tongue was still spoken in Hungary until the 10th century c.e. Paradoxically and in apparent contrast with the purpose of this essay, the Khazars did not add any substantial contribution to the presumed Hebrew-Hungarian connexion: they were a Turkic people related with the Uyghurs that became famous for the adoption of Judaism of their leading class but they had not Jewish bloodline, facts that have generated a series of speculative theories mainly in an anti-Semitic sense. They remain an enigma concerning some aspects: who they were and how many, for example. They arose from the collapsed kingdom of the Kök Turks and built their own empire, which was ethnically quite heterogeneous, composed by almost every Scythian-related tribe between Khwarezm and the Dniepr. The OnOgurs and Bulgars were consistent elements within the population of Khazaria, as well as Magyars, that had also their own realm by the western border. In all likelihood, the Khazars proper were not numerous, perhaps not many besides the ruling class, as they were constantly renewing internal alliances with the subject tribes in order to keep their kingdom solid. Before going on with this topic, it is convenient to disavow two false theories about the Khazars: one is that they are allegedly the majority of the present-day Jews, which is utterly false; the Khazar lineage is to be found mainly among modern Hungarians, Bulgarians, some Caucasian peoples and many Hungarian Jews, that through intermarriage -mainly with Sephardic Jews- are no longer of pure Khazar origin but predominantly Semitic Jewish. Another groundless theory, following the misleading belief in the first one and with the purpose of contrasting it, asserts that the Khazars descend from the so-called "lost Tribes" of Israel. Nor the term "OnOgur", literally meaning "ten tribes", has any relation with them either; it was a common among Turks to call their alliances by the number of associated tribes (“Üchogur” =“three-tribes”, “Beshgur”=“five-tribes”, “Altigur”=“six-tribes”, “Tukurgur”=“nine-tribes”, “Uturgur” = “thirty-tribes”, etc.). There is no need to elaborate such inferences to legitimate the Ashkenazi Jews, as the actual proportion of Khazar blood among them is irrelevant, as proven by genetics. According to their own records, after their conversion to Judaism the Khazars did not pretend to be of Israelite origin but recognized themselves as the descent of Togarma, probably identifying that patriarch with Targitay, mythic forefather of the Scythians. Nevertheless, their adoption of the Jewish belief remains a mystery and perhaps such an uncommon event has been in some way connected with the Avars or the Huns of the Khazar Empire. (For further details about Khazars, see here). Yet the relevant Khazar element in the origin of Hungarians is undeniable, so much that it partially contributed to support the anti-Semitic theory of the alleged Khazar origin of Jews, because when fleeing from the collapsed Kingdom of Khazaria to the Hungarian realm, the Jews themselves promoted for a while the suggestion that they were of Khazar rather than authentic Jewish origin, and hence legitimate Hungarians no less than the Magyars. Indeed, Khazars and Magyars were so closely related that both were equally regarded as Hungarians!