The Turkmen of Uzbekistan

The Turkmen of Uzbekistan, numbering approximately 226,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are described as a Turkic ethnic group indigenous to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, with communities in Iran, Afghanistan, and smaller diasporas in Turkey and the Middle East They are an Diaspora people, with Turkmen (Turkmenistan) as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Turkmen people cluster of the Turkic Peoples. Their primary religion is Sunni Islam. They primarily speak Turkmen.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Turkmen

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Turkic Peoples
Country: Uzbekistan
People Cluster: Turkmen
Primary Language(s): Turkmen (tuk)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 226,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024320
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Turkmen of Uzbekistan

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Turkmen
Language Family: Turkic

100%
%
Turkmen Speakers

Bible Resources in Turkmen:

Or check out the Turkmen bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Turkmen:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Turkmen are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Turkmen:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Turkmen are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Turkmen:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Turkmen of Uzbekistan

Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him.
readIsaiah 45:24

Pray that those who are weary and burdened by their own righteousness will find rest in the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ alone.

Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!
readPsalm 150:2

Pray for the gospel to advance among those who are living in darkness. Pray that they will come to know Jesus and praise Him for all that He has done.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
readMatthew 5:16

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be humble and give glory to God through their good deeds.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
readJohn 3:16

Pray that God will send and sustain believers to cross cultures and share the gospel with the lost. Ask that He will give them His heart for the lost and that many will believe in Him and not perish but have eternal life.

Turkmen Across Countries (ROP3 - 110306) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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