The Dargins of Turkmenistan

The Dargins of Turkmenistan, numbering approximately 3,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Northeast Caucasian people indigenous to central Dagestan in Russia. They share related Dargin languages, a common mountain homeland, and a cultural heritage shaped by village life, traditional crafts, and Sunni Islam. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Dargwa is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Eurasian Peoples
Country: Turkmenistan
People Cluster: Caucasus
Primary Language(s): Dargwa (dar)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 3,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024614
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Pray for the Dargins of Turkmenistan

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

100%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Dargwa
Language Family: Nakh-Daghestanian

100%
%
Dargwa Speakers

Media Resources in Dargwa:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Dargwa:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2013 Institute for Bible Translation, Moscow✓✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Dargwa bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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 Dargins:
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 Dargins of Turkmenistan

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
readMatthew 5:44-45

Pray for those who don't know Jesus to encounter believers who are kind and compassionate and that their imitation of Christ will serve as a testimony that attracts lost people to Jesus.

Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.
readIsaiah 55:6

Pray that the lost will seek the Lord while He may be found and call upon Him while He is near, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
readPsalm 121:1-2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and experience hardship, God will remind them that their help comes from the One who made heaven and earth and that He is powerful to meet their needs.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
readJohn 1:9-10

Pray for those God might send to share the gospel here. Ask that they will grow closer to Jesus and be compelled to share His good news with people who don't know it.

Dargin Across Countries (ROP3 - 102454) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

4 people groups

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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