wrenching the thread (amidst much internal strife) back on topic:
"Middle East" is not a completely settled term, but using the most common definition of the term, it includes Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and the disputed territories of Palestine including the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights of Syria.
Sometimes the term "Middle East" is taken to include Turkey and Cyprus, although both Turks and Cypriots assert that they are part of Europe and not the Middle East. The list of countries discussed in the context of Middle East is occasionally extended, due to strong cultural, economic and political relationships to include Morocco, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Afghanistan and even Iran and Pakistan.
One of the problems with the term "Middle East" is its perceived Eurocentrism. The region is only "to the east" from the perspective of Europe. To an Indian, it lies to the west; to a Russian, it lies to the south. There is also a problem with the word "Middle." What is the Middle East in the middle of?
The answer to this lies in the older term "Near East." Before the First World War, "Near East" was used in Europe to refer to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire, while "Middle East" refered to Persia, Afghanistan and sometimes Central Asia, Turkestan and the Caucasus. ("Far East" referred to countries such as Malaysia and Singapore.) With the disappearance of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, "Near East" fell out of use, the "Middle East" came to be applied to the re-emerging countries of the Arab World.
The ambiguity of the term "Middle East" annoys some geographers, who have tried to popularise South-West Asia as an alternative, with little success. "Arab World" is used in some contexts, but it excludes peoples such as the Israelis, the Iranians and the Kurds who are not Arabs. In some ways the ambiguity of "Middle East" is an advantage, since it can be defined in a number of ways.
©Wikipedia
