The Chaldeans of Turkiye

The Chaldeans of Turkiye, numbering approximately 3,100 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an Aramaic-speaking ethnoreligious people indigenous to northern Mesopotamia, especially present-day Iraq, whose identity is rooted in East Syriac Christian traditions, a shared historical heritage, and membership primarily in the Chaldean Catholic Church. They mostly adhere to Chaldean Catholicism and Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: Chaldean, Neo-aramaic

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Arab Peoples
Country: Turkiye
People Cluster: Assyrian
Primary Language(s): Chaldean Neo-Aramaic (cld)
Primary Religion(s): Chaldean Catholicism
Population: 3,100
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024546
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Chaldeans 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: Chaldean Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

94%
%
Chaldean Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Chaldean Neo-Aramaic
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

77%
%
Chaldean Neo-Aramaic Speakers

Media Resources in Chaldean Neo-Aramaic:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Bible Resources in Chaldean Neo-Aramaic:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Aramaic Bible Translation✓✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Chaldean Neo-Aramaic 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 Chaldeans:
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 Chaldeans of Turkiye

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
read1 John 1:9

Pray that God, who is faithful and just, will open the eyes of those who are lost and draw them to confess their sins and trust in Him to grant forgiveness.

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
readPsalm 34:8

Pray that the gospel will advance and that many will have the opportunity to taste and see the goodness of God and entrust their lives to Him.

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.
readHebrews 10:26

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will live with reverence for God and not deliberately keep sinning after they receive the knowledge of the truth.

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
read2 Corinthians 1:8-9

Pray that as people hear and believe the gospel, they will be faithful as they walk through trials and will have an opportunity to be a witness to others in this people group of the goodness of God.

Chaldean Across Countries (ROP3 - 101983) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

5 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.

Scroll to Top