Is it West Asia or Middle East? | WION Shorts

When you say Middle East, you probably are thinking of nations like Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Qatar. But these same countries are known as West Asian nations as well. So then why do we call them Middle East? Is it Middle East or West Asia?

#MiddleEast #WestAsia #WION

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[beingme]

It's West Asia. Reject colonial constructs

[kokonut.K]

One time, I told my 4th grade teacher that I'm from Asia. He was like, "No, you're not. You're from the Middle East." I really almost believed him cause he was a teacher until my mom told me that he's stupid af.

[someonejustsomeone]

Just call it west Asia. Middle east was used in a time when Asian borders were still ambiguous, and there were a lot of heated debates on whether Russians, Finns, Hungarians and Ottomans were Asians or Europeans. It doesn't make sense anymore. Asian borders are well defined now.

[SmedleyDouwright]

Jesus is my favorite Asian of all time.

[TowerNewsNow]

Also you could argue that "the middle east" should be called "Central Eurasia" since Europe and Asia shouldn't be considered as 2 separate continents to begin with. As far as I know the creation of Europe and Asia as separate entities was because of cultural differences/ similarities. Further more I would argue that before the creation of the Suez canal Eurasia should've been called Afroeurasia.

[omaralfar]

I prefer West Asia. I only use Middle East when it includes Egypt, because let’s be real: the Middle East is just West Asia with the inclusion of Egypt.

[pogrsicht]

Well for example only southern turkey is middle eastern. Not the whole country so it’s better if people would say west Asia.

[cnstantin]

I feel sick to my stomach that as a student from an East European country🇹🇩 we ware fed western terms like "middle east" or "byzantine empire" and I never questioned the teacher. Now my entire people are pro west and despize me ...

[righteoustruth]

Middle East don't exist! It's not a continent, it's a term.The proper term is West Asia & North Africa. They started calling it middle East when Israel bacame a country of that region which was around 1947 I believe so.

[righteoustruth]

West Asia & North Africa the proper terms

[clammer]

Wasn't it once called Asia Minor, or am I thinking of a different area.

Anyways, I grew up in America so I know it as the Middle East.

[Janine.Najarian]

it's West Asia acknowledge us it's long overdue

[tajingkeu_cryingwwwSIHN]

Middle asia is Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan

[kaytihodan-stqp]

Not everyone may agree with me and that is okay but I honestly feel like the term “Middle East” has genuine significance, but it is often used to partition West Asia from Europe. The truth is, is that it’s not that distinctly cut off from Europe as a region as much as people wish to believe. In ancient times, they were more interconnected with one another. I mean quite honestly, I feel like Turkey is not that distinct from Europe. Turkey is similar to Croatia, Italy, or other Mediterranean regions with some more influence from Persia or Turkic regions from the north. Europeans may think Turkey is so different due to religious factors, but I don’t. This whole “oh my they’re Muslim so they must be a different species” is so silly to me. Turks know that they share ties but Europe sort of ostracizes them and excludes them as the odd one out. I mean even Cyprus is considered to be in West Asia. The Phoenicians may not have been exactly like the Greeks but they certainly knew one another. They even worshipped some of the same gods such as Aphrodite who evolved from Ishtar who was worshipped in nearby regions like Mesopotamia, the Black Sea, Russia, Ukraine, Greece, and wherever the Romans went. She’s white but she’s also West Asian. They’re not that racially distant from Europeans. Maybe the gulf region might be but certainly not the Levantines as a whole. Obviously many Europeans still worship west Asian deities today too since they’re Christian or Muslim (Bosnia and Albania). Anyway, I have a nostalgia for when the folie of white supremacy did not have such a grip on the world and especially the resourceful, abundant region of West Asia. People traded with one another and prospered without being affected by the concept of race. Egypt too, which is a interesting mixed culture but still inherently African. The ancient Egyptians were primarily African by the way even in appearance and looked closer to modern day Ethiopians/Sudanese/Eritreans with some settlers who were white like Cleopatra’s family or other groups. You obviously see more influence in the more Arab and Hellenic demographics today but the African element is not completely absent. Modern Egypt is a beautiful mixed culture. Feel free to laugh at this but I worship Egyptian gods and I’ve seen them and they’re all black, not white, nor Arab. I feel like it’s safe to talk about polytheism amongst Hindus. Thank you India by the way for keeping your religion alive. Anyway, I think the beauty of West Asia is that it is sort of a crossroads region between Europe, Africa, and the rest Asia. This also include the overlooked parts that are close to Russia such as Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, etc. I understand that race is an important concept and a lot of damage has been done in the name of race, but still...like yeah...anyway.

[jeezyfrfr]

Hate being south Asian wish I was west Asian

[elmirabbasov]

Georgia Azerbaijan is Caucasian West Asian Eurasian countries half Europe half Asia, 🇦🇿❤️🇬🇪

[cocaineminor]

Far east = east and southeast Asia and Oceania

[markjosephbacho]

One question still remains though, do people in West Asia identify themselves as Asians or not?

[AA]

As a Saudi Arabian I think the middle east is the right term
Not for being “ closer to europe “ but the middle east / west asia has alot of ethnicities, there’s Arabs, Jews, Kurds, Turks, Persians, Assyrians, Caucasians, Syriacians، Aramians, etc…
Unlike the rest of Asia, which includes only one ethnicity for east asia, one ethnicity for south asia and one ethnicity for central asia
Middle East is built different, its more like a whole continent, all the prophets came from the middle east ( muhammed, Jesus, Moses, Adam, Noah, Joseph, Ibraham, Hud, Isaac, Jacob, John, David, Jonah…etc ) + Ancient Egypt is in the middle east too..
The Middle East has an old and ancient history, its very weird for an important place like the middle east to be a “ part “ of a continent or something else, the middle east is a different place and a different continent.

[DemonixGamer]

Egypt is Africa, and the rest is West Asia.