POLITICS OF THE MIDDLE EAST

INTRODUCTION
Middle East is the region between Asia, Europe and Africa. It includes Arabian
Peninsula, Iran, Egypt in Northern Africa and Turkey as the north of the region.
The countries that make up the region are Egypt, Saudi Arab, Iran, Iraq, Yemen,
Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Palestine, Israel, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
Arabs are the largest ethnic group in the region followed by Iranians and Turks.
There are also other minorities located in the region such as Kurds, Yazidis,
Assyrians, Balochis, Iraqi Turkmens and Greek Cypriots. The largest and main
religion of the region is Islam while other faiths also originate in the region such
as Christianity and Judaism. Christians also live in the region and Israel hosts the
majority of Jewish population. There are also minority religions such as
Zoroastrianism, Yazidism and Bahaii faith. According to the number of speakers,
the top five languages of the region are Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Kurdish and
Hebrew.

Middle East is known as the cradle of civilizations. The world’s largest and ancient
civilizations had formed and flourished in the region, these included the
civilizations of Mesopotamia that lived along the river of Euphrates and Tigris.
These included Babylonia, Assyria and Akkad. Another famous civilization was of
ancient Egypt which formed around fertile regions of the Nile. The most notable
empires of the region were Neo-Assyrian empire, Achaemenid empire,
Macedonian empire, Sassanid empire and Byzantine empire. After Islam, the
region became a global superpower under the Rashidun Caliphate and then the
Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates. Islam went through the golden ages during the
Abbasid caliphate as it became the center of knowledge, inventions, innovations,
arts and technology. After the 16th century the region was dominated by two
powers, the Ottoman empire and Safavid dynasty. After world war I and the fall of
Ottoman empire, the modern day countries that we see in the region, were born.