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The Rumelian Turks of Greece

The Rumelian Turks of Greece, numbering approximately 160,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Turkish Muslim community that traces its roots to Rumelia, the Ottoman Empire name for its European territories, largely corresponding to today’s Balkans. Rumelian Turks are the main ethnically Turkish community in Greece today. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Turkish is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3 Flash: Rumelian Turk

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Turkic Peoples
Country: Greece
People Cluster: Turkic
Primary Language(s): Turkish (tur)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 160,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG046763
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Pray for the Rumelian Turks of Greece

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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

100%
%
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

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Turkish:

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

4 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Turkish bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Rumelian Turks 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 Rumelian Turks:
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 Rumelian Turks of Greece

He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him
readLuke 10:34

Pray that the lost among them will experience the kind of compassion Jesus taught His followers to show others, and that they will trust in Him because He is the one who brings healing to the broken and lost.

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
readActs 17:24-25

Pray that the good news will reach everyone in this people group and that many will come to know and serve the one true God who made the world and everything in it and lives today.

More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
readRomans 5:11

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will rejoice in what God has done for them and will help others know how they can also be reconciled to God.

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
readMatthew 7:28-29

Pray that God will remind believers that they have His authority as they share His truth with the lost, and pray He will draw crowds of people to this message and plant it deeply in their hearts.

Turk Across Countries (ROP3 - 113818) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

27 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountry ▲PopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
TurksPG008077TurksAustralia59,500Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG000046TurksAustria227,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG000073TurksBelgium83,500Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG000723TurksBosnia and Herzegovina9,800Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG000744TurksBulgaria508,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG043491TurksCanada30,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG000099TurksDenmark107,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG011515TurksEgypt57,500Unengaged and UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG000204TurksFrance394,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG000274TurksGermany2,205,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
Rumelian TurksPG046763Rumelian TurksGreece160,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG050665TurksItaly40,000Unengaged and UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG024299TurksKazakhstan92,000Unengaged and UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG048012TurksKosovo13,000Unengaged and UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG011823TurksLebanon6,300Unengaged and UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG000444TurksNetherlands761,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG000859TurksNorth Macedonia69,500Unengaged and UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG049408TurksNorway21,000Unengaged and UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG006409TurksPakistan2,500Unengaged and UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG000902TurksRomania56,500Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG011937TurksSaudi Arabia37,000Unengaged and UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG000576TurksSweden58,000Unengaged and UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG000606TurksSwitzerland138,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG024593TurksTurkiye64,280,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG050497TurksUnited Arab Emirates44,500Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG042466TurksUnited Kingdom62,500Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
TurksPG046495TurksUnited States147,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam

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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