Angora Cat
The Ankara (Angora) cat, with its silky white fur and often two different-colored eyes, originated in the highlands of central Turkey and is considered a national treasure.
Flag of Turkey
Field Report
Turkey is a large country shaped a bit like a rectangle, sitting right where Europe meets Asia, with the Black Sea to the north and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. It is home to about 85 million people who mostly speak Turkish and follow Islam, which means very few of them have ever had a real chance to hear about Jesus. The land itself is full of history that Bible readers will recognize, because the apostle Paul traveled through Turkey on his missionary journeys and some of the seven churches mentioned in the book of Revelation were located there.
From the Field Notebook
Angora Cat
The Ankara (Angora) cat, with its silky white fur and often two different-colored eyes, originated in the highlands of central Turkey and is considered a national treasure.
Loggerhead Sea Turtle
Turkey's Mediterranean beaches, especially around Dalyan, are among the most important nesting grounds in the world for the loggerhead sea turtle.
Anatolian Shepherd Dog
This ancient, powerful livestock-guardian breed has been protecting sheep on the Anatolian plateau from wolves and bears for thousands of years.
Simit
A sesame-crusted bread ring sold by street vendors across Turkey, simit is crunchy on the outside and chewy inside, and many Turks eat it for breakfast with tea.
Köfte
These small, spiced ground-meat patties are grilled over charcoal and served with flatbread, tomatoes, and peppers at family meals and roadside restaurants all over the country.
Baklava
Layers of paper-thin pastry dough are stacked with crushed pistachios or walnuts, soaked in syrup, and cut into small diamonds for a rich, sweet treat shared at celebrations and holidays.
Turkey sits on two continents at once — the city of Istanbul has one half in Europe and the other half in Asia, divided by a narrow waterway called the Bosphorus Strait.
The city of Ephesus, where the apostle Paul preached and wrote one of his New Testament letters, still stands as ruins on Turkey's western coast and you can walk its ancient marble streets today.
Turkey produces about 70 percent of all the hazelnuts eaten in the entire world, which means there is a good chance the chocolate-hazelnut spread in your pantry came from a Turkish farm.
The region of Cappadocia in central Turkey has tall, mushroom-shaped rock formations called 'fairy chimneys,' and early Christians carved entire underground cities into the soft volcanic rock to shelter from persecution.
Turkish is not related to Arabic, Persian, or any European language — it belongs to its own language family, and every word is built by adding pieces called suffixes onto a root, so one long word can say what takes an entire English sentence to express.
Daily Life
77
Years life expectancy
97%
Can read and write
88%
Kids go to school
Missions Field Report
Turkey is home to 85 distinct people groups — 61 of them haven’t yet heard about Jesus.
Nearly all Turkey's people follow Islam (95.7%). Less than 1% of people in Turkey are Evangelical Christians.
What People Believe
Unreached People Groups
These are communities of people who haven’t had the chance to hear about Jesus yet. They need missionaries — and they need kids like you to pray for them.
Turk
61,185,000 people
Kurd, Kurmanji
13,000,000 people
Turk, Alevi
4,000,000 people
Arab, Syrian
2,000,000 people
Zaza, Southern
1,344,000 people
Prayer Journal
Tick each one as you pray. God hears every word.