Turanian is a controversial term that has been used in reference to diverse groups of people. It has had currency in Turanism, Pan-Turkism, and historic Turkish nationalism.
Many of the uses of the word are obsolete. It may refer to:
The Turanid race
An Iranian ethnic group mentioned in the Avesta; see Turan
Any historical people of Transoxiana or present-day Turkistan
Obsolete term for any historical Ural–Altaic people, in particular:
The Turkic peoples during Turkic expansion
The Huns described by the Europeans and Chinese
The Mongols, who are distantly related to the Turks
Some sources have mentioned the Japanese and Korean peoples
The Sami or Lapps of northern Scandinavia
Finno-Ugric peoples like the Finns, Estonians, and Hungarians
The Dravidian people of southern India and Pakistan were theorized to have Turanian ancestors
Speakers of Caucasian languages
Non-Semitic and non-Indo-European peoples of the Late Bronze Age were theorized to have Turanian ancestors; see Hurro-Urartian and Etruscans
The term formerly used for the Caucasian Avars
