European Jews are Descended Almost Entirely from the Khazars

Thank you for your time as well as the effort you put into your opening statement. I know that Round 2 was designated for new Arguments, though my opening Statement was very well organised and the addition of new arguments as such would not benefit the debate. As such and with Emilrose's mutual agreement I will move on to make some rebuttals, as well as adding new evidence used to defend my Claims. Rebuttal of Emilrose's opening Argument: Your definition of the Khazar kingdom is correct, though just to add the Khazar kingdom was not particularly known for trade or being rather advanced, but rather for its tax collection due to its geographical location, making it an important strategic point in the trade routes that was beneficial for any nation to control, due to vast income through tax collection. Pending on your definition of country, the Khazar Kingdom in fact was not the largest country of its time, though large as compromising 2.01% of the World area in 850 and as such being number 70 of the largest empires, the largest empire at the time was the Abbasid Caliphate with an area of 7.45% of the earths area, ranking at number 9. In fact the Abbasid Caliphate was right next to the Khazar Khaganate and being Islamic, explanation following below, was partly at fault for the increase of followers of Judaism in Khazar Khaganate. As I had already stated in my opening Argument, Jewish population was already present as the historical first Ashkenazi Jew 1200 years prior to the Khazar kingdom in the same location. I will not argue against conversion to Judaism by the Royalty of Khazaria, but do question the sudden increase of Jewish population. It is clear that Jewish followers migrated in great numbers, the reason being that they would flee when being persecuted, a simple human actions to avoid being killed. If we take this into account and look at the time span in which this increase in Jewish population happened (just to clarify, I have not seen any evidence of extreme Increase in Jewish population as there are no Records properly stating this to my knowledge, but logically do think that it happened) it becomes very clear. The 800's were a time in which Islam had gained massive power and in fact had conquered a major part, from Spain, the northern part of Africa, the whole Arabian peninsula, to parts of modern India, the entire middle east, in fact right to the Khazar Kingdoms doorstep. (http://upload.wikimedia.org... expansion from 622CE-750CE) This shows us something very important. Jewish population would have indeed increased heavily during 800CE in Khazaria, not due to conversion though, for which there is no archaeological evidence present, but due to Jews fleeing from Muslim persecution to the nearest Countries where they could practice their faith in peace. These places were the Kingdom of Khazaria, accepting Jews, unconfirmed records even state the King at the time having a Jewish wife, as well as Constantinople, as the Byzantine empire was known as a stronghold of Jewish Religion due to no persecution occurring, unlike in the Modern Middle East by Muslims as well as by Christians in Europe. The Jewish Population in Khazaria as such would have been originating from the Levant area and would have moved through the Khazar area to the rest of the world, but not originated there. This also easily explains and dismisses the claim made by Eran Elhaik as to why Jewish population clustered around the Khazar empire up to its fall in 1048CE as then it was no longer a save haven for its Jewish population that subsequently moved again. Further more I would like to question the scientific as well as historic authority of Eran Elhaik, as I can myself dismiss the claim that Yiddish is a Slavic language. Yiddish, to speak generally, is a mix of German with the Hebrew language. The Germanic Language has no or little connection with the Slavic Language. In fact, my Grand-grandmother lived in a part of 'Slavic Germany' (Sudeten Germany), modern day Czechoslovakia until she was expelled during the Second World War. The reason why I mentioned her in this is because she spoke a type of German extremely similar to Yiddish. In fact, I have been in Slavic countries and can most surely say that I do not understand a single word of their language, yet, speaking fluent German can easily understand grand parts of the Yiddish language. Also having Turkish friends, I can say that I do not understand Turkish and that it has no connection with Yiddish, whether linguistic nor historically. If anyone has any evidence suggesting this is incorrect I would more than welcome it. Ernest Renan can also be proven incorrect to his statement of "Jewish populations which have in all probability nothing or almost nothing that is anthropologically Jewish in them.", as with the extensive DNA research I had shown in my opening statement, though i will not criticize him as he used the word 'probability', thus not claiming scientific fact. I have no problem with the The Americana Encyclopaedia publishment, as I myself have said that Khazar nobility converted to Judaism, thus creating a save place for followers to practice their faith and the Jews that had migrated into the Khazar kingdom may well be the ancestors of Eastern Jewish population, originating although from Levant and not from Khazaria, thus not providing evidence as to the descend. The The Americana Encyclopaedia is also correct to state that "The primary meaning of Ashkenaz and Ashkenazim in Hebrew is Germany and Germans.", this meaning however, as to my opening statement was created "Sometime in the early medieval period, the Jews of central and eastern Europe came to be called by this term ( Paul Kriwaczek, Yiddish Civilisation, Hachette 2011 p. 173 n. 9.)". I do however have grand Issue with the statement made by the Jewish Encyclopaedia in stating that "who were converted as an entire nation to Judaism in the seventh century by the expanding Russian nation which absorbed the entire Khazar population". This is historically incorrect. The Russian nation did in fact neither convert the Khazar population, implying that the Russian Nation was actively converting in the name of Judaism, absolute ridicule as the Kievan Rus' in fact was of Slavic Paganism as well as Orthodox Christianity, nor did the Russian nation described here (I will assume the Kievan Rus', the Russian nation that had destroyed the Khazar Kingdom) even exist in the 7th century CE, being established in the late 9th Century, a mere 200 years later than claimed. If a source is this factually incorrect I would dub it hearsay, as there seemingly is no scientific accuracy, as well as claiming the non existent link between Yiddish, Khazar Turkish or Slavic Languages in stating " absorbed the entire Khazar population, and who account for the presence in Eastern Europe of the great numbers of Yiddish-speaking Jews in Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Galatia, Besserabia and Rumania.". Just to elaborate this a bit further, Yiddish, actually being a connection of Jew and Tiutsch (Deutsch/German), seemingly being a Turkic language and not denying its obvious similarities (from where could they be, no one seems to know ;) ) to German, would imply that whenever I am speaking German I am actually speaking an ancient form of Turkish. Absolute nonsense. How about we explain the Jewish Yiddish speaking people in eastern Europe to the fact of Jews fleeing from persecution in Germany and western Europe, not just during the Holocaust but during the several hundreds of years before that. I think that makes more sense than to just make something up. The statement by the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia is correct, as I have explained in my Opening Statement, though not contributing to the claim of European Jews having Khazar ancestry. The New Grolier Encyclopedia is also correct, especially stating in the fact that Khazar nobility converted to Judaism, although not creating a majority based Jewish state, but negates to provide any evidence or even mention that the Ashkenazi are descend of the Khazar. As I have already stated in my Opening statement, there is no evidence as to Ashkenazi Judaism originating from the Kingdom of Khazaria. Jewish communities in Europe already existed and were numerous as to before the Khazar Kingdom even existed, as stated by Emilrose herself. As to Emilrose's argument of the defying of basic logic that the number of Ashkenazi doubled, lets calculate this: 5 Dogs, they bark (Germanic Jews now called Ashkenazi) 5 Cats, they meow (Slavic Jews/Eastern European Ashkenazi) Now I define (medieval definition of the term Ashkenazi, changing the original meaning) that all Cats are now Dogs, thus getting a number of 10 Dogs, a 100% increase. The Cats still meow (Eastern European Ashkenazi have their own customs) but they are now considered to be Dogs. This seems to be logical to me. As i have stated throughout this Debate, there is no apparent connection in descend between the Ashkenazi Jews and the people of Khazar. Further more Emilrose was not able to bring forward statements that were scientifically sound or approving of the apparent link between European Judaism and the Kingdom of Khazaria. Kind regards, I'm looking forward to your reply!