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The Southern Zaza of Turkiye

The Southern Zaza of Turkiye, numbering approximately 1,780,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Zazaki-speaking people of southeastern Turkey's Adiyaman, Diyarbakir and Sanliurfa provinces, believed descended from Daylamite migrants out of the Caspian region, distinguished from the Alevi Northern Zaza by their Sunni faith. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Dimli (individual language) is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Zaza, Southern

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Persian-Median Peoples
Country: Turkiye
People Cluster: Kurd
Primary Language(s): Dimli (individual language) (diq)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 1,780,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG046644
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Pray for the Southern Zaza 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: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

95%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Dimli (individual language)
Language Family: Indo-European

80%
%
Zazaki, Southern Speakers

Media Resources in Dimli (individual language):

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Dimli (individual language):

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Bible Society in Turkey✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Dimli (individual language) bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Southern 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.

Next steps for the Southern Zaza:
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 Southern Zaza of Turkiye

Claiming to be wise, they became fools.
readRomans 1:22

Ask God to pour out His mercy and bring those who are walking in their own wisdom to faith in Jesus.

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.

You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.
readPsalm 32:7

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember that God is their hiding place and that He will preserve them in the midst of trials.

He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
readJohn 1:7

Pray that God will raise up witnesses to testify about Jesus so that all might believe, knowing that He is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.

Zaza-Dimli Across Countries (ROP3 - 102613) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Southern ZazaPG046644Southern ZazaTurkiye1,780,000Engaged yet UnreachedDimli (individual language)Sunni 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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