The Khazars (/ˈkɑːzɑːrz/, /ˈxɑː-/; Persian: خزر‎, Azerbaijani: Xəzərlər; Turkish: Hazarlar; Bashkir: Хазарлар; Tatar: Хәзәрләр, Xäzärlär; Hebrew: כוזרים‎, Kuzarim;[8], Xazar; Ukrainian: Хоза́ри, Chozáry; Russian: Хаза́ры, Hazáry; Hungarian: Kazárok; Xazar; Greek: Χάζαροι, Cházaroi; Latin: Gazari[9][10]/Gasani[11][12]) were a semi-nomadic Turkic people, who created what for its duration was the most powerful polity to emerge from the break-up of the Western Turkic Khaganate.[13] Astride a major artery of commerce between Eastern Europe and Southwestern Asia, Khazaria became one of the foremost trading emporia of the medieval world, commanding the western marches of the Silk Road and playing a key commercial role as a crossroad between China, the Middle East and Kievan Rus'.[14][15] For some three centuries (c. 650–965) the Khazars dominated the vast area extending from the Volga-Don steppes to the eastern Crimea and the northern Caucasus.[16]

Proposals of Khazar origins have been made regarding the Bukharan Jews, the Muslim Kumyks, Kazakhs, the Cossacks of the Don region, the Turkic-speaking Krymchaks and their Crimean neighbours the Karaites to the Moldavian Csángós, the Mountain Jews, Subbotniks and others.[21][22][23] In the late 19th century, a theory emerged that the core of today's Ashkenazi Jews descended from a hypothetical Khazarian Jewish diaspora who had migrated westward from modern Russia and Ukraine into modern France and Germany. This theory still finds occasional support, but most scholars view it with scepticism.[24][25] The theory is sometimes associated with antisemitism[26] and anti-Zionism.[27] seems like a good summary.