Introduction / History

Each Turkmen tribe has its own individual history of when they migrated to the Middle East. Some tribes arrived at the time of Genghis Khan. Others arrived later during the Ottoman Empire. During the 1920 after the breakup of the Ottoman Empire Turkey enacted language reforms in which they changed their alphabet from a modified Arabic script to a Latin alphabet. In addition to changing the letters they also removed much of the Arabic and Persian borrow words that previously existed. As a result of this change, the Turkish spoken in Turkey became much different than that of that which is spoken by neighboring Turkic dialects. Some Middle Eastern Turkmen have migrated to Jordan where they must adapt to Jordanian Arabic.

What Are Their Lives Like?

In Jordan, the Turkmen are a marginalized people group that live in impoverished conditions. W whether male or female, they are often married off around the age of 14, and divorce rates are high. Few have access to public school—although they are welcome to enroll as they are Jordanian citizens—because they live nomadic lifestyles traveling from city to city, pitching tents to sleep in, and selling simple goods like prayer beads, sunglasses and watches. Men are mostly bilingual as they brush shoulders with Arabic speakers for their work, but women exclusively speak Turkmani. Many also scrap metal and other disposed of valuable materials for small profit.

What Are Their Beliefs?

Most Jordanian Turkmen are Alawites. As the majority are illiterate, they rely on their elders and non-Turkmani sheikh to pass down traditions and rituals via storytelling.
Peacekeeping is a core value which is most likely the reason that so much syncretism has entered their worldview to appease all the different types of peoples around them.

What Are Their Needs?

They lack engagement with believers. Education is needed for literacy and financial advice. Believers could bless them with small business start-up ideas and advice.

Prayer Points

Pray for God to shower his abundant mercy on these suffering people in Jordan.
Pray that God would pour out his blessings on the Turkmen in Jordan as a testimony of his power and goodness.
Pray for Christ's ambassadors to go to the Turkmen in Jordan.
Ask the Lord to open the spiritual eyes of the Turkmen living in Jordan to the wonders of Christ.

Scripture Prayers for the Turkmen, Middle-Eastern in Jordan.