The Bulgarians of Turkiye

The Bulgarians of Turkiye, numbering approximately 8,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a South Slavic people of the Balkan Peninsula whose identity emerged through the historical blending of Slavic-speaking populations with earlier Balkan inhabitants, particularly the Thracians, and the medieval Bulgars from whom they derive their name. They mostly adhere to Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Bulgarian is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Eurasian Peoples
Country: Turkiye
People Cluster: Slav, Southern
Primary Language(s): Bulgarian (bul)
Primary Religion(s): Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Population: 8,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024544
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Bulgarians 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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

85%
%
Eastern Orthodox Christia… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bulgarian
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Bulgarian Speakers

Media Resources in Bulgarian:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Bible Resources in Bulgarian:

Or check out the Bulgarian bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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 Bulgarians:
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 Bulgarians of Turkiye

"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."
readJohn 16:33

Pray that those who don't have peace with God will find peace in Christ, even amid the troubles of this world.

All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.
readPsalm 66:4

Pray that the good news of Jesus will advance here and that many will bow down and sing praises to His name.

“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
readLamentations 3:24

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and walk through trials, they will be satisfied with the Lord as their portion and will place all their hope in Him.

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
readMatthew 7:28-29

Pray that God will remind believers that they have His authority as they share His truth with the lost, and pray He will draw crowds of people to this message and plant it deeply in their hearts.

Bulgarian Across Countries (ROP3 - 101722) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

10 people groups

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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