Talk:Middle East

Middle East definition
We can’t use this modern day definition of “middle East” without usage of Near east and Far east. This map is entirely incorrect as it includes the near East and is now completely inaccurate and lost all of its meaning. I propose a new map, which separates the near East from the Middle East, and shows the far East. All labeled. Middle East is supposed to be Mesopotamia to Burma. Central Asia is supposed to be included in the definition of Middle East. Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Turkey etc ARE NOT MIDDLE EASTERN COUNTRIES. Ricemaster12 (talk) 05:37, 6 July 2023 (UTC)


 * Read WP:RIGHTGREATWRONGS. - LouisAragon (talk) 00:41, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
 * I’m not saying to change the definition by any means. What I am saying though is to INCLUDE the original definition of what the Middle East was. It serves as a great insight for people who are not familiar with the definition (which many people aren’t) and is extremely valuable. All I ask is to include the definition given by the United States Government (picture included) to which I can provide sources and you or other editors can insert. It doesn’t even have to be in the lede. Perhaps somewhere in the body, under the Terminology section, the picture can be included. Ricemaster12 (talk) 04:06, 14 July 2023 (UTC)
 * I believe I have found a resolution for the both of us, sir :)
 * See latest topic. Ricemaster12 (talk) 04:35, 14 July 2023 (UTC)

I think that Pakistan should be part of the Middle East because if you go back in time you can see many Muslim empires controlled parts of Pakistan — Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.27.232.2 (talk) 17:31, 16 April 2024 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 27 August 2023
at start power bi at power query at erp systems at inventory control at java at all the good stuff at have the arabs solve their own problems at theft contorl and at transactions control at processes at machine learning 50.246.212.150 (talk) 21:12, 27 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Cannolis (talk) 21:24, 27 August 2023 (UTC)

Inclusion of Armenians
Armenians are indigenous to the Armenian Highlands, which is located in modern-day Eastern Turkey—thus making them a native people of the Middle East. Armenians are conspicuously absent in the section naming indigenous peoples of the region, despite it being the very first sentence in the article for Armenians itself. Please make a correction adding Armenians into the list of indigenous people to the Middle East.

Cited here are credible sources attributing Armenians’ indigenousness, taken from the Wikipedia article on Armenian people. Syd Highwind (talk) 06:00, 16 September 2023 (UTC)


 * Definitions of the Middle East (itself an increasingly unpopular term) do not tend to include the Caucasus. It would be more accurate and current to say that Armenians are a West Asian people. Iskandar323 (talk) 10:06, 16 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Not disagreeing entirely with you there, though I would point out that this article includes a point that Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are occasionally included in the definition and that Armenia is usually included in the “Greater Middle East”. But I specifically stated that I am asking for Armenians to be included in a line in the article regarding indigenous people of the Middle East under the “Ethnic Groups” subsection. While modern-day Armenia is located in the Southern Caucasus, Armenians being indigenous to what is considered to be part of the Middle East (Eastern Turkey) is irrefutable. There is also still a sizable population of Armenians within the Middle East itself, mainly in Lebanon, Iran, Cyprus, Syria, Jerusalem, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Turkey. Syd Highwind (talk) 20:29, 16 September 2023 (UTC)
 * This article isn't about what ethnic groups have criss-crossed the region or what populations either used to live in the area or currently populate the area. There are hundreds of ethnic groups (maybe more) which have historical connections to the region and even more which call the region home today (just look at the UAE as an example). If that were the focus of the article, the article would be outrageously long. The article's principal focus is on political geography. The Caucasus region, where the modern Republic of Armenia is presently located in, is a distinct geographical region intersecting West Asia/Eastern Europe and is not classified as part of the Middle East proper (by most academics). Perhaps your suggestion is better presented at Ethnic groups in the Middle East? However, I should also point out that the vast majority of the Armenian population today lives outside the Middle East. According to Armenians/Armenian diaspora, the top five countries where Armenians reside are outside the Middle East (that being Armenia, Russia, United States, France, and Georgia). Archives908 (talk) 23:04, 16 September 2023 (UTC)
 * If that’s the case, then why does the article have an entire subsection dedicated to Ethnic Groups if it’s just concerning geopolitical definitions? All I’m requesting is that Armenians—who are, again, indigenous to the region—be included in the part that is listing native groups to the region, especially considering that there is still a sizable presence of Armenians in the Middle East. Considering that this topic was also broached back in February by a different user, I’d say it’s something that merits mention. I myself am Armenian, and to not include Armenians as indigenous to the region reads as erasure/historical revisionism. And while you do have a point with where our diaspora is mostly located, the Middle East is generally excluded from that list because most Armenian settlements in the region predate the diaspora created by the Armenian Genocide. Syd Highwind (talk) 23:13, 17 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Its a subsection that's 3 sentences long -_- Which proves my point, ethnic groups of the region is not the primary focus of this article. A sizeable presence? You make it seem as if there are millions of Armenians in the Middle East. There are not. In fact, there are more Sri Lankans and Pakistanis in the Middle East than Armenians. To add information about one group, while omitting more sizeable groups, is a violation of WP:UNDUE. Archives908 (talk) 17:15, 18 September 2023 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 9 October 2023

 * In the table of countries and territories, the GDP column should have "billions" replaced by "millions". Alternatively, all numbers in that column could be divided by 1000 instead.:
 * All GDPs in this column appear to be off by 3 orders of magnitude.:

Unseemly Levity (talk) 17:11, 9 October 2023 (UTC)


 * ✅ Andumé (talk) 04:42, 10 October 2023 (UTC)

Specifics of the term
As many of you know, the term has been used ever since the beginning of World War I up until the present day. During the years leading up to the present, the term has been extremely fluid, ranging from (and including) parts of North Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, West Asia (and even parts of Southeast and East Asia, aka Myanmar and Chinese turkestan respectively). What I’m saying is that there is no clear-cut definition of the term and it’s 100% dependent on historical context.

Is anyone in favor of possibly making an edit to include the following in the opening paragraph of this page: “the term Middle East has been used to denote a wide variety of areas and countries in North Africa and Asia. Depending on the historical context and culture at the time (for example, World War I and World War II), the definition of the term widely varied to specify the area and countries during that point in time that was deemed appropriate”. It does not have to be worded exactly like this (and quite frankly, it shouldn’t) but it’s worth pointing out blatantly at the top of this page. WikiAmerican1 (talk) 02:51, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 11 December 2023
Palestine is one! Remove israel and the hebrew language! 89.211.210.82 (talk) 13:38, 11 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. CMD (talk) 13:55, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

Countries and territory emblems
Emblems in the Countries and territory section are almost all wrong and/or inaccurate and should be change and i don't have enough edits to do so and pls don't have the the picture's of the emblems and flag a redirect link to the country's wiki page just leave it as a normal picture Smint34 (talk) 10:27, 9 January 2024 (UTC)

As to the "occupied" sub-section in the table
I think that it should changed to "Occupied or Annexed" since Israel annexed 2/4 of these territories. עמית לונן (talk) 18:39, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Start section on Politics
I propose to start a section on politics/goverments/democracy. HudecEmil (talk) 12:42, 16 March 2024 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 24 March 2024
Armenia is Middle Eastern; Armenia is native to the Middle East; and current Armenia is only what is left of Armenia due to colonization, occupation, and genocide. Armenia should be included in this definition of the Middle East. Türkiye is partly in the Armenian highlands, Europe, and the lesser Caucasus, but still considered the Middle East, while Armenia is also part of the Armenian highlands and in the lesser Caucasus, but not in Europe; the Middle East does not include Europe, and Armenia is completely part of West Asia. Geographynerdy (talk) 00:11, 25 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: Opinionated. This topic has been discussed thoroughly; see archives for consensus. Archives908 (talk) 01:11, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 19 April 2024
Add paragraph to Terminology section:

The term 'SWANA' has been used to refer to South-West Asia and North Africa. This term attempts to distinguish the region in geographical terms, rather than “political terms” as defined by the Western world.

Source: https://aapirc.ucsc.edu/swana/what-is-swana.html Gilgarbon (talk) 21:19, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: There is a separate page for the Middle East and North Africa which already mentions SWANA. This page covers a narrower region that does not include North Africa, except for Egypt. Jamedeus (talk) 18:09, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

Middle East Map
the green coloured map is inaccurate. Cyprus is not part of the middle east and never has been. Cyprus is an independant island and had joined the EU in May of 2004 This map needs to be corrected. KatieKoupp (talk) 18:51, 20 May 2024 (UTC)


 * The map represents what's mentioned in the article. M.Bitton (talk) 19:17, 20 May 2024 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 27 June 2024
Remove UTC+4:30, only Afghanistan uses it, and it isn't in the Middle East proper, it only neighbors it, so this would be incorrect. Marksaeed2024 (talk) 07:23, 27 June 2024 (UTC)
 * ✅ M.Bitton (talk) 00:02, 30 June 2024 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 1 July 2024
Change Iraqi Turkmen to Turkmen, as Turkmen is not only in Iraq.

Change Greek Cypriot to Cypriots, there are Turkish Cypriots too.

Add Alawites, Druze, Armenians. IR94025190 (talk) 03:10, 1 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: Unclear and unsourced. Archives908 (talk) 22:30, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

"Government of the Middle East" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Government_of_the_Middle_East&redirect=no Government of the Middle East] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. Walsh90210 (talk) 23:52, 1 July 2024 (UTC)