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The Assyrians of Turkiye

The Assyrians of Turkiye, numbering approximately 29,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Semitic people indigenous to northern Mesopotamia, speakers of Neo-Aramaic, claiming continuity with ancient Assyria, split across the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic, and Syriac Orthodox traditions, with a large modern diaspora. They mostly adhere to Church of the East and Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Arab Peoples
Country: Turkiye
People Cluster: Assyrian
Primary Language(s): Assyrian Neo-Aramaic (aii)
Primary Religion(s): Church of the East
Population: 29,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024540
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Pray for the Assyrians 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: Church of the East
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

60%
%
Syriac Orthodox Christian… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

80%
%
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic Speakers

Media Resources in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Assyrian Neo-Aramaic 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 Assyrians:
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 Assyrians of Turkiye

For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!
readPsalm 47:7

Pray for those who live for idols that will never satisfy their hearts, asking that someone will tell them that God is the King of all the earth so that they will turn to Him in repentance and praise.

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.
readActs 17:26-27

Pray that the lost will seek God and find Him, for He is not far from each one of us. Pray that they will have opportunities to access the gospel, learn God's purpose for their lives, and believe in Him.

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.
read1 Corinthians 9:19

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have hearts that want to serve the lost around them so that many might come to faith in Jesus.

Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
read3 John 1:2

Ask God to grant protection and good health — both physical and spiritual — to those He sends cross-culturally to share the gospel.

Assyrian Across Countries (ROP3 - 100574) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

14 people groups

PhotoPeople Group ID ▼NameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
AssyriansPG043528AssyriansUnited States70,000No Longer UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicChaldean Catholicism
AssyriansPG043355AssyriansCanada11,500No Longer UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicChaldean Catholicism
AssyriansPG042491AssyriansFrance4,000Unengaged and UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicChaldean Catholicism
AssyriansPG024540AssyriansTurkiye29,000Unengaged and UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicChurch of the East
AssyriansPG024131AssyriansIran22,000Unengaged and UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicChaldean Catholicism
AssyriansPG012181AssyriansSyria50,500Engaged yet UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicSyriac Orthodox Christianity
AssyriansPG011812AssyriansLebanon31,500Unengaged and UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicSyriac Orthodox Christianity
AssyriansPG011794AssyriansKuwait8,500Engaged yet UnreachedTuroyoChurch of the East
AssyriansPG011733AssyriansIsrael850Unengaged and UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicChurch of the East
AssyriansPG011701AssyriansIraq207,000Unengaged and UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicChaldean Catholicism
AssyriansPG007833AssyriansAustralia40,000No Longer UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicChurch of the East
AssyriansPG000613AssyriansUnited Kingdom7,000Unengaged and UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicChaldean Catholicism
AssyriansPG000543AssyriansSweden146,000Unengaged and UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicSyriac Orthodox Christianity
AssyriansPG000214AssyriansGermany70,000No Longer UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicSyriac Orthodox Christianity

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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