Is there legitimate evidence to support Arthur Koestler's claims about the origin of Ashkenazi Jews in his

Question

book,The Thireenth Tribe?

Please do not misunderstand me.I am not asking this question with some racist motives.
My family is originally from the region specified in the book(Georgia).I am not a Jew,though.I am a Turk.

Answer 1

It's just a theory by a writer and journalist, and a controversial one at that. And the first genetic tests seem negative.

"The main thesis of The Thirteenth Tribe has since been tentatively disproved by genetic testing. A 2000 study of haplotypes by Hammer et al found that the Y chromosome of most Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews was of Middle Eastern origin, containing mutations that are also common among Palestinians and other Middle Eastern peoples, but uncommon in the general European population. This suggested that the male ancestors of the Ashkenazi Jews could be traced primarily to the Middle East. A 2006 study by Behar et al, based on haplotype analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), suggested that about 40% of the current Ashkenazi population is descended matrilineally from just four women. These four "founder lineages" were "likely from a Hebrew/Levantine mtDNA pool" originating in the Near East in the first and second centuries CE."

"Arthur Koestler : Judaism" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koestler#Judaism

"The Thirteenth Tribe" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thirteenth_Tribe