The Laz of Turkiye

The Laz of Turkiye, numbering approximately 175,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as an ethnolinguistic community of Turkey They are an Indigenous people, with Laz as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Caucasus people cluster of the Eurasian Peoples. Their primary religion is Sunni Islam. They primarily speak Turkish.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Eurasian Peoples
Country: Turkiye
People Cluster: Caucasus
Primary Language(s): Turkish (tur)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 175,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024576
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Laz of Turkiye

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: Turkish
Language Family: Turkic

100%
%
Turkish Speakers

Media Resources in Turkish:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

3 films

Bible Resources in Turkish:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Halk Dilinde 2012✓✓
Kutsal Kitap 2009✓✓
New Turkish Bible Translation✓
Yeni Antlaşma 1987, 1994✓✓

4 entries

Or check out the Turkish bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Laz 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 Laz:
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

Pray specifically for the Laz of Turkiye

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
readPsalm 51:17

Pray that those who want to achieve salvation through their works will be unsettled in their pursuit and that, with a broken spirit and contrite heart, they will trust in Christ.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise).
readEphesians 6:1-2

Pray that God will bring young men and women to faith in Jesus and that the fruit of their faith will be a powerful testimony as they honor their parents.

"...I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
readMatthew 16:18b

Pray that God will build and grow His Church among this people.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
read2 Corinthians 5:20

Pray that those God sends to cross cultures will be His ambassadors, faithfully imploring people on Christ's behalf to be reconciled to God through Jesus.

Laz Across Countries (ROP3 - 106648) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

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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