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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Northern Zaza of Turkiye

The Northern Zaza of Turkiye, numbering approximately 1,495,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethno-religious community of eastern Turkey. Zazas generally consider themselves Kurds and are often described as Zaza Kurds. They are an Indigenous people, in the Kurd people cluster of the Persian-Median Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Islam - Shia. They primarily speak Zazaki, Northern.

Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Müge Yildiz - Wikimedia Müge Yildiz - Wikimedia Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Central Asian Peoples
Country: Turkiye
People Cluster: Kurd
Primary Language(s): Zazaki, Northern (kiu)
Primary Religion(s): Islam - Shia
Population: 1,495,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG046643
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Northern Zaza of Turkiye

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Islam - Shia
Religious Affiliation: Islam

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Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Zazaki, Northern
Language Family: Indo-European

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Media Resources in Zazaki, Northern:

Films:

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Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Zazaki, Northern:

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Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Zazaki, Northern bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Northern Zaza

The Northern Zaza 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 Northern Zaza

The Northern Zaza 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 Northern Zaza

The Northern Zaza 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 Northern Zaza of Turkiye

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
readRomans 10:14

Pray that those who haven't heard will hear the Word of Christ and believe in Him, calling upon the name of the Lord to be saved.

And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
read1 John 4:21

Pray that the good news of God's love will reach everyone in this people group, and that His love will compel them to love others as Christ has loved us.

The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
readLamentations 3:25

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will trust in the goodness of the Lord as they wait on Him to answer their cries for help.

I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.
readPsalm 57:9

Pray that God will raise up believers among them who will boldly go and share the gospel with people nearby and with those far away.

Zaza-Alevi (ROP3 - 100225) 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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