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you can keep the first part of the definition: Middle east and near east are the same thing. If turkey is near eastern, that means it's a middle eastern country at the same time
Turkey is mostly Asiatic with stripes of Europeanism in its tapestry. Much of that European element is derived from their 20th century push towards a more Western like democratic system, usage of the Latin Alphabet (other Asiatic countries like Vietnam do this too though), and their genetic connections to the indigenous Anatolians after many centuries of the Oghuz Turks intermingling with them. Mehmed II fancied himself as 'emperor' of the continued Roman Empire but I'm not sure I would consider that the Roman Empire anymore than the Crimean Khanate could be considered some imitation of the Kievan Rus.
Now is Turkey Middle Eastern? It shares a mutual belief in the Sunni school of Islam, had an empire that once stretched across a good amount of Mesopotamia along with the coastlines of the Arabian Peninsula, has significant cultural influence from them, and even uses a religious symbol commonly associated with Islamic nations. Byzantium/Constantinople used the moon insignia as well but the likeness in which Turkey portrays it today seems to be geared more towards a general Islamic affinity than ancient Anatolian. Having said that, they're a syncretised combination of Turkic, Anatolian, Balkan, Caucasian, and Middle Eastern influences. I'd say they're overall more Asiatic but it's definitely in a transitional zone between continents.
1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2010s. From one end to the other. Fabulous country. Some scary episodes in eastern Turkey in the 1970s, because I was a girl who wasn't accompanied by a male guardian.
“Middle Eastern†is British imperial terminology, inherited into US imperial terminology.
Except for copy-cats using or transliterating English, no one in the rest of the world in their own original language thinks in those terms.
I perceive the Turks as a sovereign people seeking to maintain and expand their sovereign influence in the three seas region, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, eastern Mediterranean, as well as their southeastern flank.
The Turks seem to be doing or more or less skillful job at playing the Europeans and Russians off against each other, unlike the Ukrainians who are getting squashed between hammer and anvil, and will come out of this with only small token sovereignty at best.
“Middle Eastern†is British imperial terminology, inherited into US imperial terminology.
half of terms we use today are British or American, and it makes sense, as half of all of the world's Literature and science comes from these two countries.
This doesn't mean that this as a term does not work (quite the opposite, I trust it more as a British or an American term than I would trust it as a Ghanian or a Russian or a Mongolian or a Greenlander or whatever term)
Middle east exists, and that is not even debatable, Like gravity (also a British term/discovery) exists, the question is if Turkey is part of it
half of terms we use today are British or American, and it makes sense, as half of all of the world's Literature and science comes from these two countries.
This doesn't mean that this as a term does not work (quite the opposite, I trust it more as a British or an American term than I would trust it as a Ghanian or a Russian or a Mongolian or a Greenlander or whatever term)
Middle east exists, and that is not even debatable, Like gravity (also a British term/discovery) exists, the question is if Turkey is part of it
I think we agree. I see it primarily as classifying an area of the world by location.
I would have added more options like a hybrid/half Middle Eastern and/or just partially Middle Eastern. It really depends on what part. Of course the southeastern part along the Syrian and Iraqi borders are Middle Eastern, but the western parts like Istanbul or Cappadocia are more Mediterranean. Then again Isreal and Lebanon also are Mediterranean yet at the same time are considered Middle East due to their geographic location. Also the northeast part of Turkey as you get closer to the Georgian and Armenian borders look more Central Asian.
Turkey is mostly near eastern country except for its european part. In polish and german language near and middle east are separate terms but it seems that in english the term middle east covers also what is near east in german and polish.
They straddle several regions, not just geographically but culturally, politically. I think that's why some have serious identify crises, ie "MY ANCESTORS"
The area ha long been contested by different powers. For a while, they were under the Greeks, Romans, but now they're ruled by a more easterly people. Who knows what happens in the future?
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