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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Turkmen of Iraq

The Turkmen of Iraq, numbering approximately 2,835,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a western Turkic people who played a significant role in the history of Central Asia, the Middle East, and EuropeTurkmen, Iraqi Turkmen, Türkmanja, Türkmen They are an Indigenous people, in the Turkic people cluster of the Turkic Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Islam - Sunni. They primarily speak Azerbaijani, South.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Central Asian Peoples
Country: Iraq
People Cluster: Turkic
Primary Language(s): Azerbaijani, South (azb)
Primary Religion(s): Islam - Sunni
Population: 2,835,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011724
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Turkmen of Iraq

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Islam - Sunni
Religious Affiliation: Islam

%
Islam - Sunni Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Azerbaijani, South
Language Family: Turkic

%
Azerbaijani, South Speakers

Media Resources in Azerbaijani, South:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Azerbaijani, South:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Azerbaijani, South bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Turkmen

The Turkmen are Unengaged and Unreached, 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.

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

Next steps for the Turkmen

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.

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

Next steps for the Turkmen

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.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Turkmen of Iraq

"And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
readJohn 8:32

Pray for those who live enslaved to sin to hear and receive the truth of the gospel and be set free.

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.
readPsalm 127:3

Pray that God will bless this generation of children, that they will come to know Jesus early in life and follow Him always.

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 so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
readActs 13:47

Pray that as people come to faith, they will follow the Lord's leading to go to their neighbors and share the treasure they found in Christ.

Turkmen, Iraqi (ROP3 - 118355) 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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