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The Ahiska Turks of United States

The Ahiska Turks of United States, numbering approximately 11,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are ethnic Turks whose identity is rooted in the Ahiska (Meskheti) region of Georgia prior to their forced deportation by the Soviet government in 1944. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Turkish is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Turkic Peoples
Country: United States
People Cluster: Turkic
Primary Language(s): Turkish (tur)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 11,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG047351
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Pray for the Ahiska Turks of United States

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

100%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Turkish
Language Family: Turkic

100%
%
Turkish Speakers

Media Resources in Turkish:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

3 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Turkish:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Halk Dilinde 2012✓✓
Kutsal Kitap 2009✓✓
New Turkish Bible Translation✓
Yeni Antlaşma 1987, 1994✓✓

4 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Turkish bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Ahiska Turks 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 Ahiska Turks:
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 Ahiska Turks of United States

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.
readPsalm 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.

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
readIsaiah 43:19

Pray that the lost will see the new thing God can do in their lives and trust in His plan and purpose for them.

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
readHebrews 10:35

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will hold unswervingly to their faith and to their confidence in Christ, which has a great reward.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
read1 Corinthians 15:10–11

Pray that God's people will preach the message of Jesus' death and resurrection and that it will spread among the lost through the selfless witness of believers.

Ahiska (Meskheti) Turk Across Countries (ROP3 - 115687) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

6 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguage ▲Religion
Ahiska TurksPG024092Ahiska TurksAzerbaijan27,000Unengaged and UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
Ahiska TurksPG024319Ahiska TurksUzbekistan197,000Unengaged and UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
Ahiska TurksPG024371Ahiska TurksKyrgyzstan18,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
Ahiska TurksPG047070Ahiska TurksRussian Federation80,000Unengaged and UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
Ahiska TurksPG047351Ahiska TurksUnited States11,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishSunni Islam
Ahiska TurksPG048856Ahiska TurksUkraine8,000Unengaged and UnreachedTurkishSunni 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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