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The Ossetians of Turkmenistan

The Ossetians of Turkmenistan, numbering approximately 2,600 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an Eastern Iranian ethnic group indigenous to Ossetia, a homeland that is politically divided between North Ossetia-Alania in Russia and South Ossetia, a Russian-occupied territory of Georgia. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Iron Ossetic is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Persian-Median Peoples
Country: Turkmenistan
People Cluster: Persian
Primary Language(s): Iron Ossetic (oss)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 2,600
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024630
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Pray for the Ossetians of Turkmenistan

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

40%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Iron Ossetic
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Ossetic Speakers

Media Resources in Iron Ossetic:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Iron Ossetic:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2002 Institute for Bible Translation, Moscow✓✓✓
2004 Institute Bible Translation, Moscow✓✓

2 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Iron Ossetic 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 Ossetians:
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 Ossetians of Turkmenistan

Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
readPsalm 46:10

Pray that those who do not yet worship Jesus will be still and know that He is God, that He will be exalted among them and in all the earth.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
readPsalm 19:1-2

Pray that the lost will see the glory of God revealed in the heavens, that they will hear the good news, and that their hearts will be softened to respond to God’s call, turning to Him in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.

And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.
readActs 4:29

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and face rejection by unbelievers in their communities, God will give them discernment, boldness, and encouragement to speak His Word.

But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
readJeremiah 29:7

Pray that God will lead the lost among them to followers of Jesus who will share the gospel with them so that they may believe and take the message of hope to their families and friends.

Ossetian Across Countries (ROP3 - 107699) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

6 people groups

PhotoPeople Group ID ▼NameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
OssetiansPG024630OssetiansTurkmenistan2,600Unengaged and UnreachedIron OsseticSunni Islam
OssetiansPG024577OssetiansTurkiye44,500Unengaged and UnreachedIron OsseticSunni Islam
OssetiansPG024475OssetiansRussian Federation445,000Engaged yet UnreachedIron OsseticEastern Orthodox Christianity
OssetiansPG024308OssetiansUzbekistan11,000Unengaged and UnreachedIron OsseticSunni Islam
OssetiansPG024291OssetiansKazakhstan2,800Unengaged and UnreachedIron OsseticSunni Islam
OssetiansPG024080OssetiansAzerbaijan3,400Unengaged and UnreachedIron OsseticSunni 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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