Kurmanji Kurds of Turkmenistan (PGID: PG046645)

The Kurmanji Kurds of Turkmenistan

The Kurmanji Kurds of Turkmenistan, numbering approximately 8,200 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are ethnic Kurds who primarily speak Kurmanji (Northern Kurdish), the most widely spoken Kurdish dialect. They mostly adhere to Shia Islam and Northern Kurdish is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Kurmanji Kurd

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Persian-Median Peoples
Country: Turkmenistan
People Cluster: Kurd
Primary Language(s): Northern Kurdish (kmr)
Primary Religion(s): Shia Islam
Population: 8,200
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG046645
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Pray for the Kurmanji Kurds of Turkmenistan

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Shia Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

80%

Shia Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Northern Kurdish
Language Family: Indo-European

100%

Kurdish, Northern Speakers

Media Resources in Northern Kurdish:

Films:

Title	Link
JESUS	View Film
JESUS	View Film
Magdalena	View Film
Magdalena	View Film

4 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Northern Kurdish:

Bible Name (Translation)	Video	Audio	Text
2019 Kurdish Literature Association	✓	✓	✓
2005 United Bible Society		✓
Transcaucasia	✓	✓	✓
Transcaucasia	✓	✓	✓

4 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Northern Kurdish 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 Kurmanji Kurds:

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 Kurmanji Kurds of Turkmenistan

O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
Psalm 10:17-18

Pray that God, in accordance with His good character, will give justice to those who are oppressed by sin and that they will know that His offer of salvation is for everyone.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16

Pray that the lost will seek God and learn that they have a heavenly Father who loves them and wants them to live eternally with Him.

I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm 89:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will declare and record His faithfulness and love to be passed on from generation to generation.

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
Acts 17:30

Pray that those God sends to cross cultures will boldly and lovingly declare that God commands all people everywhere to repent.

Kurd, Northern (Kurmanji) Across Countries (ROP3 - 105458) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index

All

Engaged yet Unreached UUPG No Longer Unreached

CountryReligion

21 people groups

People Group ID	Name	Country	Population	Strategic Progress Index	Language ▼	Religion
PG020260	Kurmanji Kurds	Australia	5,500	Engaged yet Unreached	Northern Kurdish	Sunni Islam
PG047399	Kurmanji Kurds	Canada	7,700	Engaged yet Unreached	Northern Kurdish	Sunni Islam
PG046646	Kurmanji Kurds	Uzbekistan	3,500	Unengaged and Unreached	Northern Kurdish	Sunni Islam
PG046645	Kurmanji Kurds	Turkmenistan	8,200	Unengaged and Unreached	Northern Kurdish	Shia Islam
PG046639	Kurmanji Kurds	Kyrgyzstan	10,000	Engaged yet Unreached	Northern Kurdish	Sunni Islam
PG046638	Kurmanji Kurds	Kazakhstan	51,500	Unengaged and Unreached	Northern Kurdish	Sunni Islam
PG046633	Kurmanji Kurds	Iran	573,000	Unengaged and Unreached	Northern Kurdish	Sunni Islam
PG046631	Kurmanji Kurds	Azerbaijan	6,400	Unengaged and Unreached	Northern Kurdish	Sunni Islam
PG024567	Kurmanji Kurds	Turkiye	9,000,000	Engaged yet Unreached	Northern Kurdish	Sunni Islam
PG024465	Kurmanji Kurds	Russian Federation	35,000	No Longer Unreached	Northern Kurdish	Shia Islam
PG024112	Kurmanji Kurds	Georgia	39,500	Engaged yet Unreached	Northern Kurdish	Shia Islam
PG000026	Kurmanji Kurds	Austria	68,500	Engaged yet Unreached	Northern Kurdish	Sunni Islam
PG012204	Kurmanji Kurds	Syria	1,620,000	Engaged yet Unreached	Northern Kurdish	Sunni Islam
PG011820	Kurmanji Kurds	Lebanon	152,000	Engaged yet Unreached	Northern Kurdish	Sunni Islam
PG011787	Kurmanji Kurds	Jordan	12,000	Engaged yet Unreached	Northern Kurdish	Sunni Islam
PG011671	Kurmanji Kurds	France	85,000	Engaged yet Unreached	Northern Kurdish	Sunni Islam
PG011302	Kurmanji Kurds	Bahrain	92,500	Unengaged and Unreached	Northern Kurdish	Sunni Islam
PG000652	Kurmanji Kurds	United Kingdom	150,000	Engaged yet Unreached	Northern Kurdish	Sunni Islam
PG000421	Kurmanji Kurds	Netherlands	75,500	Engaged yet Unreached	Northern Kurdish	Sunni Islam
PG000250	Kurmanji Kurds	Germany	540,000	Engaged yet Unreached	Northern Kurdish	Sunni Islam
PG000062	Kurmanji Kurds	Belgium	67,000	Engaged yet Unreached	Northern Kurdish	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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