Middle East

Our objective is to provide information and insight on the Middle East that the visitor may not have encountered before. To do this, we will offer articles on many facets of the area, present alternative views of critical issues, and provide links to the rich resources of the net.

Defining "Middle East"

Culturally and historically, the Middle East extends from Morocco in the West to Afghanistan in the East, and from Turkey in the north to Yemen in the south. Outside these limits, our attention will also be given to peripheral states, such as Western Sahara and possibly Mauritania south of Morocco in the west and Sudan immediately south of Egypt. Other peripheral states are Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan. Cyprus is often considered a part of the Middle East due to its location off Turkey and Lebanon, but most of its people are Christian and speak Greek. In general, peripheral states are dominated by ethnic and religious groups with close ties to neighboring Middle Eastern states. Pakistan is a special case in that its Pushtun people play a dominant role in Afghanistan, and it has always been closely involved in events there. Many Afghanistanis and Pathans have never accepted the Durand Line that divides the two countries.

Many traditional treatments of the Middle East, such as those found in the National Geographic’s Atlas of the Middle East or Colbert Held, Middle East Patterns, have a much more restricted sense of the Middle East, confining it to an area running from Egypt in the West to Iran in the East. No doubt, this is the region’s heartland. However, history, culture, and current events make these limitations less than helpful in understanding many of the issues that will draw the attention of visitors. North Africa was conquered for Islam in the first period of its expansion. The Arabic language quickly became dominant. Much closer to the present much of it was controlled by the Ottoman Empire. On the east, the religion and culture of Azerbaijan is nearly identical to that of the Iranian province of the same name to the south. Further east, the dominant language of Tajikistan and western Afghanistan is practically indistinguishable from modern Persian. (A very informative introduction to the label “Middle East” and its alternatives may be found in Held, mentioned above).