To the Problem of the Ethnic Identity of the Saks

Abstract

The formation of the ethnocultural traditions of the Turkic peoples is one of the least studied topics in science. A controversial issue that is still hotly debated is the issue of the ethnicity of the Sakas. According to most scholars, the earliest ethnic groups living in Eurasia were Indo-Europeans. Modern linguistic studies also confirm the Sakas belonging to the Indo-European language family. Since this problem is related to the Aryan problem, the solution of this issue is completely deadlocked. The European centristists still dominant in world science once and for all decided that the Aryans should be a European race. For this reason, other views on this issue are not recognized. Nevertheless, in spite of such a dictate on the part of Eurocentrism, recently research has begun to appear in science, in which the Aryan problematics are examined in a new way and the Turkic roots of ancient Saks are based. In these works, the main attention is paid not to the linguistic side of the Aryan texts, but to the culture, economy and life of the Aryans described in the texts.
This article set a goal to contribute to the development of the problem of determining the ethnic identity of the ancient Saks. As a result of a comparative analysis of information from ancient sources about Scythians and Indo-Iranian texts (Rig Veda, Avesta) about the Aryans significant results were achieved in determining the belonging of the ancient Saks to the Turkic peoples.