A region with a high risk for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in northeast of Iran was identified more than three decades ago. Previous studies suggest that hereditary factors play a role in the high incidence of cancer in the region. Polymorphisms of several genes have been associated with susceptibility to esophageal cancer in various populations, but these have not been studied in Iran. We selected 22 functional variants (and 130 related tagSNPs) from 15 genes which previously have been suggested to be associated with an increased risk of ESCC. We genotyped a primary set of samples from 451 Turkmen (197 cases and 254 controls). Seven of 152 variants were associated with ESCC at the P = 0.05 level; these SNPs were then studied in a validation set of 1668 cases and controls (Turkmen and non-Turkmen) under dominant and recessive models. In the joint sample set, five variants, from five different genes, showed significant associations with ESCC at the P = 0.05 level. For one variant, in ADH1B, the association was strong and was present in both Turkmen and non-Turkmen. The histidine allele at codon 48 of ADH1B gene was associated with a significantly decreased risk of ESCC under a recessive model (OR = 0.41, 95%, CI = 0.19 to 0.49; P = 4×10−4). For four additional variants, an association was present in the Turkmen subgroup, but the statistical significance of these was less compelling than for ADH1B. Two variants showed deleterious effects and two were protective. The G allele of the c.870A>G variant of CCND1 gene was associated with a 1.5-fold increased risk of ESCC under the recessive model (OR = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.14 to 2.16, P = 0.02) and the A allele of the rs1625895 variant of TP53 gene was associated with a 1.5-fold increased risk of ESCC under a dominant model (OR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.21 to 4.07, P = 0.005). The C allele of the rs886205 variant of ALDH2 was associated with a decreased risk of ESCC under a recessive model (OR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.34 to 0.87, P = 0.02) and the A allele of the rs7087131 variant of MGMT was associated with a decreased risk of ESCC under the recessive model (OR = 0.26, 95% CI = 0.05 to 0.49, P=0.01). These results confirm that genetic predisposition to ESCC plays a role in high incidence of this cancer among Turkmens who live in northeast of Iran.