btw the early "Turks" (here, not only the nation of "Turuk" of the Turkic Khaganates who first used the name but also Turkophone tribal alliances like Onogurs, Bulgars, Uyghurs (Tokuz Oguz, Tele), Sabirs, Kyrgyz, Khazars, etc. who didn't call themselves "Turuk" in fact) (~ 200 BC ~ 600 AD) were literally Mongol looking people ("chinks", "gooks") in origin with their cradleland in Mongolia and South Siberia btw and had a long history of interactions with the ancient Chinese states (primarily from their sources we know much about the early "Turks")
later doe, some pressured Turks migrated to the Western Steppe and assimilated various non-Turkic peoples and the western medieval Turks emerged (Oguz (Turkoman, Pechenegs), Cuman-Kypchaks, Khazars, Bulgars, Karluks, etc.) (~ 700 ~ 1200 AD) who started becoming different from their eastern kin (ie some more or less began to look more like Latinx/hapas due to assimilation and get acquainted with the western realities like Islam, Persian culture, Byzantine culture and so on)
and nowadays the Turkic peoples happen to be extremely diverse in looks (from fully Caucasian to fully Mongoloid), cuisine, mentality, and everything, cuz the "Turks" were tolerant, chill and inclusive, and non-rayciss even before it became mainstream, a truly peaceful multi-racial ethno-linguistic family, Hitler's most terrifying nightmare
equating the modern Turk nation of Turkiye entirely with various historical Turkic tribes is completely inaccurate doe considering it's the nation most divergent from the OGs after maybe the Gagauz and the Polish Tatars
