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The Balkan Romani of Turkiye

The Balkan Romani of Turkiye, numbering approximately 80,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are the Balkan branch of the Roma people, defined mainly by their shared dialects and regional history rather than a single unified ethnic identity. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Balkan Romani is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Romani, Balkan

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Eurasian Peoples
Country: Turkiye
People Cluster: Romani
Primary Language(s): Balkan Romani (rmn)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 80,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024542
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Pray for the Balkan Romani 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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

50%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Balkan Romani
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Romani, Balkan Speakers

Media Resources in Balkan Romani:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Balkan Romani:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Balkan Romani bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

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 Balkan Romani:
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 Balkan Romani of Turkiye

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
readPsalm 96:5

Pray that those who are seeking after worthless idols will not be satisfied until they seek the truth and find it in Christ.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!
readPsalm 57:11

Pray that the lost will learn about God's great love and faithfulness so that they might trust in Christ for their salvation.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
readPhilippians 2:5-7

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will imitate His humility in all they do.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
readJohn 1:5

Pray that when discouraging days come, those who cross cultures for the sake of the gospel will be comforted as they remember that the light of Christ is stronger than the darkness that surrounds them.

Roma, Balkan Across Countries (ROP3 - 108397) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

12 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Balkan RomaniPG000986Balkan RomaniUkraine300,000Engaged yet UnreachedBalkan RomaniEastern Orthodox Christianity
Balkan RomaniPG039305Balkan RomaniSerbia273,000Engaged yet UnreachedBalkan RomaniEthnoreligion
Balkan RomaniPG000737Balkan RomaniBulgaria267,000No Longer UnreachedBalkan RomaniUnaffiliated
Balkan RomaniPG000856Balkan RomaniNorth Macedonia105,000Engaged yet UnreachedBalkan RomaniSunni Islam
Balkan RomaniPG024542Balkan RomaniTurkiye80,500Unengaged and UnreachedBalkan RomaniSunni Islam
Balkan RomaniPG000861Balkan RomaniMoldova47,000Engaged yet UnreachedBalkan RomaniUnaffiliated
Balkan RomaniPG024141Balkan RomaniIran35,000Unengaged and UnreachedBalkan RomaniSunni Islam
Balkan RomaniPG024030Balkan RomaniAfghanistan18,500Unengaged and UnreachedBalkan RomaniSunni Islam
Balkan RomaniPG000811Balkan RomaniGreece11,500Engaged yet UnreachedBalkan RomaniUnaffiliated
Balkan RomaniPG000134Balkan RomaniFrance10,500No Longer UnreachedBalkan RomaniEthnoreligion
Balkan RomaniPG039304Balkan RomaniSlovenia10,000Engaged yet UnreachedBalkan RomaniEthnoreligion
Balkan RomaniPG000312Balkan RomaniItaly2,500No Longer UnreachedBalkan RomaniEthnoreligion

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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