Turkey and the Turkic Belt

Turkey
Azerbaijan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Kurdistan (parts of northern Iraq)

There are about 200 million people who speak some form of Turkish-related language. In Turkey, the number of believers has grown from a few hundred in the 1950s to today numbering about 8,000 believers. Many Turks live in Europe and in Bulgaria alone there are more believing Turks than in Turkey itself.

For many years IBRA has partnered with the Danish Pentecostal movement to run the satellite television channel Kanal Hayat. The channel broadcasts in several of the languages spoken in the Turkic belt. The channel reaches a global audience as apps, websites and social media are connected to the channel. There is also a local FM station in Istanbul that reaches out to new listeners daily. Since 2019 IBRA has run the YouTube channel Umut Kalesi (which means the Castle of Hope) which aspires to reach the youth of Turkey. After only three years the channel had more than 5 million downloads.

IBRA is working to reach five cities in northeastern Turkey. The media content is customized to suit the people living there. Plans for follow-ups are being established. We hope to see people coming to faith, and as a consequence establishing new churches in these places. No churches exist in the region today. Please join us in prayer for this!