The Bulgarians of Turkiye

The Bulgarians of Turkiye, numbering approximately 8,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a South Slavic people of the Balkan Peninsula whose identity emerged through the historical blending of Slavic-speaking populations with earlier Balkan inhabitants, particularly the Thracians, and the medieval Bulgars from whom they derive their name. They mostly adhere to Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Bulgarian is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: Bulgarian

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Eurasian Peoples
Country: Turkiye
People Cluster: Slav, Southern
Primary Language(s): Bulgarian (bul)
Primary Religion(s): Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Population: 8,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024544
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Bulgarians of Turkiye

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

85%
%
Eastern Orthodox Christia… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bulgarian
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Bulgarian Speakers

Media Resources in Bulgarian:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Bible Resources in Bulgarian:

Or check out the Bulgarian 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 Recent 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 Bulgarians:
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

Pray specifically for the Bulgarians of Turkiye

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
readRomans 8:1

Pray that God will reassure those who may be struggling with the cost of following Jesus that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
readIsaiah 40:8

Pray that everyone has access to God's Word and that those who hear the good news will turn from their sins and put their faith in Jesus the Messiah.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
readJames 1:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will ask God for wisdom when they lack it, trusting that He will generously give it to them.

For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
read2 Corinthians 1:5

When any who might believe suffer for the sake of the gospel, ask God to deepen their understanding of His grace so that they may share it freely with those who have not received it.

Bulgarian Across Countries (ROP3 - 101722) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

10 people groups

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 Data Standards section.

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