About the People

The Balkan people are a majority people group whose ancestors converted to Islam in the fifteenth century when the Ottoman Turks conquered much of the Balkans.

The majority of the people group practices Sunni Islam, but there is a large population of Shi’ite Muslims and smaller Sufi and Bektashi minorities.

The Balkan people experienced genocide in the 1990s when thousands of them were killed and many thousands more driven from their homelands. Despite their painful past, Balkans are generally a strong, proud, fiercely loyal and honorable people.

About the Project

Balkans are one of the few Islamic people groups in the world that have a favorable view of Americans, making them an ideal group for American missionaries to reach with the Gospel. Ideally, the Balkans could become a gateway through which the message of Jesus Christ reaches the rest of the Muslim world.

Islamic groups from the Arab world are sending missionaries to the Balkans to try to convert them from their traditional moderate Islam to more fundamental Wahhabism.

The Balkan people need to know that hope and healing can only be found in the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

People-Group Facts

• Religion: Islam
• Language: Undisclosed