Anatolia, Turkey, Western Asia,etc., that all is wrong and subsitutes the only right name for the region- Armenian Highland.  And bare in mind when they talk about similarities with Turkey they actually compare with assimilated, hidden, mixed Armenians living in our ancestral lands  of Western Armenia occupied now by the Turks. To make right genetic studies they need to know history as well, unfortunately in most cases they don’t, neither they want to know.

From Britannica.

Armenian Highland, Russian Armyanskoye Nagorye, also spelled Arm’anskoje Nagor’e, mountainous region of Transcaucasia. It lies mainly in Turkey, occupies all of Armenia, and includes southern Georgia, western Azerbaijan, and northwestern Iran.

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Armenian Y-DNA (Paternal) Haplogroups (Updated on 13 October 2010)

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R1b1b2 represents the largest haplogroup for Armenians in general and project members in particular. It has been estimated to be 8,000 years old. According to Vince Vizachero who runs the haplogroup R-ht35 Project: «From prior analysis, it appears that R1b1b2 moved north and west into Europe quite rapidly. And the data we are seeing in our project are consistent with that: the oldest forms of R1b1b2 are found at high frequency in the «homeland» of SW Asia and places with the most contact with that region. The closer we get to NW Europe, the more we observe the youngest, derived forms of R1b1b2.» The current distribution of this haplogroup shows a heavy concentration in Western Europe (from the Northern part of the Iberian peninsula to Ireland and England via France and Belgium) as can be seen in this MAP. The map corroborates Vince’s conclusions as it shows a 15% concentration of R1b1b2 in a Northern swath of Anatolia — with a peak of 25% in the middle of the swath. The studies on which the map makers drew sampled broadly in the region including Turks, Kurds, Georgians and Azeris. If you sample only Armenians, you get a concentration of 30% of R1b1b2. If you sample only Armenians from Karabakh and Syunik you get concentrations of more than 40%.

The distribution of the «youngest and derived forms» of R1b1b2 found mainly in Western Europe  — which do not include any Armenians so far — can be viewed here. Both are the only known branches of R1b1b2a1a (ht-15): P312 = R1b1b2a1a1 and U106 = R1b1b2a1a2.

It was initially believed that R1b originated in western Europe where (considered as a whole, including subclades) it reaches its highest frequencies. However R1b’s variance increases as one moves east, leading to the view that R1b originated further east, and (M269) expanded into Europe in the Neolithic not Paleolithic. Many geneticists now believe that R1b arose in Central Asia or Western Asia.

A recent study published in january 2010 seems to corroborate all of the above. According to its authors (Balaresque et al): «Haplogroup R1b1b2 is the commonest European Y-chromosomal lineage, increasing in frequency from east to west, and carried by 110 million European men. Previous studies suggested a Paleolithic origin, but here we show that the geographical distribution of its microsatellite diversity is best explained by spread from a single source in the Near East via Anatolia during the Neolithic…

Another study published in august 2010 (Myres et al.) strengthens this view: «The phylogenetic relationships of numerous branches within the core Y-chromosome haplogroup R-M207 support a West Asian origin of haplogroup R1b, its initial differentiation there followed by a rapid spread of one of its sub-clades carrying the M269 mutation to Europe.»

R1b1b2 was carried as a rapidly expanding lineage from the Near East via Anatolia to the western fringe of Europe during the Neolithic. Our interpretation of the history of hg R1b1b2 now makes Europe a prime example of how expansion of a Y-chromosomal lineage tends to accompany technological and cultural change.» Unfortunately, the authors did not type R1b1b2 subgroups. Since their study makes raw use of the genealogical rate of mutation and does not sufficiently cover Balkan samples, their conclusions are somewhat oversimplified.

If all of the above is true, it may explain the origin of the Basques.

According to Ray Banks, administrator of the G Project at FTDNA; «G2a3a is found in significant numbers in Turkey, Greece and the eastern Mediterranean countries. G2a3a persons seems to spread wesward mostly along the Mediterranean from these regions. Very preliminary calculations suggest the M406 mutation that characterizes G2a3a arose about the year 2100 B.C.E. as a very general estimate. Detailed samples available from inland Europe were compared with detailed samples from more easterly sites, namely (1) Turkey (2) Lebanon-Jordan and (3) Armenia. These comparisons show that most Europeans have Armenians as their nearest relatives with separations from them starting generally about 1300 B.C.E. and extending into the Dark Ages period after the Roman Empire. Those with the oldest separations (generally abt 1300 B.C.E. to 800 B.C.E.) show splits with the entire group in the east — equally — rather than with a specific region. This is to be expected since the age of the mutation probably does not extend much further back.»

To be continued…if I don’t go crazy with all these Rs,Is,Js,Gs, etc.etc.etc ;-))))))