Akto Turkmen

The Akto Turkmen themselves say that their ancestors came long ago from Samarkand, a city in present-day Uzbekistan, and settled in the valleys and pastures of southern Xinjiang. This account of origin is passed down from generation to generation and serves as the thread that binds the group together, even though their exact origin remains uncertain.

Over the centuries, they lived alongside the Uyghurs and the Kyrgyz. In time, they adopted Uyghur as their everyday language, and today the official classification places them within the Kyrgyz nationality. Theirs is, then, the story of a small people who have crossed the centuries between two cultures while keeping an identity of their own.

Traditionally, the Akto Turkmen are semi-nomadic herders of sheep and goats, and the daily routine of many families revolves around the animals and the mountain pastures. Their diet relies on products from the flock, supplemented with cabbage, potatoes and onions. Butter is often stored in dried animal stomachs, an ancient method of preserving food for a long time.

They celebrate the festivals of both the Uyghurs and the Kyrgyz, which shows how naturally they inhabit two cultural worlds at once. Most can read the adapted Arabic script used by the Uyghurs, an important bridge to the literate world around them.

The Akto Turkmen are Sunni Muslims, and Islam is part of the fabric of family life: it marks birth, marriage, death and the calendar of festivals. For most, being part of the people and being Muslim are one and the same, so faith is received along with one’s name and family.

Alongside Islamic practice, rituals inherited from a much older religiosity, tied to shamanism and predating the arrival of Islam in the region, still survive. It is, therefore, a faith lived in layers, in which people seek shelter from the fears and uncertainties of daily life. In this the people reveal a genuine thirst for protection and meaning.

The Akto Turkmen do not have a Bible translation in the variety they speak. Their everyday language is Uyghur, and in it there exist the complete Bible, the New Testament and portions of Scripture, as well as audio and text materials online. This means that God’s Word already exists in a language they understand, but the challenge is for it to actually reach the villages, and those with little access to books and digital media. Listening aloud, together as a family, suits a herding culture with an oral tradition well.

For the Akto Turkmen, the identity of the people and the Islamic faith go hand in hand, so following another faith may be seen as turning away from family and community. Added to this are the isolation of the villages and mountain pastures, the scarcity of nearby Christian materials and witnesses, and the fact that they are such a small people that they are rarely remembered. There is no record of missionary work among them, and without a first contact there is no way for curiosity to be born.

The Akto Turkmen need, first of all, someone who will know them by name, learn their history and listen to their families with respect. As a small and little-seen people, they run the risk of being forgotten even by those who think of the region as a whole.

They need access to the Scriptures in a way they can hear and understand, well-being for the herding communities and, above all, a community of faith that arises among them, within their own culture, with discipleship and safety to stand firm.