<p>The Indian gerbil (<i>Tatera indica</i> Hardwicke, 1807) is a rodent species that inhabits the Middle East and the Indomalayan region. Phylogenetic relationships between populations in this species’ distribution area and possible subspecies/cryptic species status are controversial because any molecular studies on the Indian gerbil has not been performed, yet. In this study, the <i>T. indica</i> population, which has been recorded to date only from Şanlıurfa Province (southeastern Turkiye) in&#xa0;Turkiye as the westernmost population of this species, was analysed using the mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase-I (COI) marker and compared with the Indian population. The genetic diversity values of the Turkish population were found to be quite high in contrast to those of the Indian population. The two populations were distinctly separated in both the Bayesian Inference tree and Median-joining network, with a mean genetic distance&#xa0;(<i>d</i>) of 6.96% and a fixation index (Fst) of 0.783. The obtained results indicate a continuing differentiation both within the Turkish population and between Turkish-Indian populations.</p>