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The Turkmen of Turkmenistan

The Turkmen of Turkmenistan, numbering approximately 5,360,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Turkic ethnic group indigenous to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, northern and northeastern Iran, and northwestern Afghanistan. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Turkmen is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Turkic Peoples
Country: Turkmenistan
People Cluster: Turkmen
Primary Language(s): Turkmen (tuk)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 5,360,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, Dispersed CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024639
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Pray for the Turkmen 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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

90%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Turkmen
Language Family: Turkic

85%
%
Turkmen Speakers

Media Resources in Turkmen:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

3 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Turkmen:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2016 Institute for Bible Translation, Moscow✓✓✓
2016 Turkmen Truth✓✓✓

2 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Turkmen bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

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.

Next steps for the Turkmen:
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

Pray specifically for the Turkmen of Turkmenistan

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
readRomans 5:10

Pray that any who may be enemies of God will grasp the depth of God's love demonstrated through Christ's death for the ungodly, and be reconciled to Him.

And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.
readLuke 2:17

Pray that the lost will receive the good news of salvation in God's Son, have hearts eager to share it with others, and that all who hear will respond with wonder and faith!

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
readActs 4:31

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak God's Word with boldness, sharing the love of Jesus with those around them.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
read2 Corinthians 5:20

Pray that those God sends to cross cultures will be His ambassadors, faithfully imploring people on Christ's behalf to be reconciled to God through Jesus.

Turkmen Across Countries (ROP3 - 110306) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

9 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
TurkmenPG024639TurkmenTurkmenistan5,360,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkmenSunni Islam
TurkmenPG042249TurkmenIran2,785,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkmenSunni Islam
TurkmenPG024023TurkmenAfghanistan2,105,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkmenSunni Islam
TurkmenPG024598TurkmenTurkiye800,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishFolk Islam
TurkmenPG024320TurkmenUzbekistan227,000Unengaged and UnreachedTurkmenSunni Islam
TurkmenPG006410TurkmenPakistan15,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkmenSunni Islam
TurkmenPG024533TurkmenTajikistan15,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkmenSunni Islam
TurkmenPG024372TurkmenKyrgyzstan2,500Unengaged and UnreachedTurkmenSunni Islam
TurkmenPG047222TurkmenUnited States200Unengaged and UnreachedTurkmenSunni 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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