The Hittites were an ancient civilization that thrived in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) from around the 17th to the 11th centuries BCE. Their empire was known for its advanced culture, strong military, and significant interactions with neighboring powers, including Egypt and Assyria.
After the fall of the Hittite Empire, which is commonly attributed to a combination of internal strife and external invasions around the 1200s BCE, the cultural and genetic legacy of the Hittites continued in the region.
The modern descendants of the Hittites are not straightforward to pinpoint, as the population of Anatolia has undergone numerous migrations, conquests, and cultural changes over the millennia. However, many historians and archaeologists suggest that the people of modern Turkey, particularly in Central and Eastern Turkey, can trace some of their heritage back to the Hittites, alongside influences from various other groups that have settled or invaded the region, such as the Phrygians, Urartians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, and Turks.
In a broader sense, the descendants of the Hittites can be thought of as part of the larger tapestry of Anatolian ancestry, with many modern Turkish people potentially sharing some distant genetic and cultural ties to this ancient civilization.