GEOGRAPHY
Nations of the Middle East
*There are 28 recognised states in the Middle East, as well as two
states that are trying to assert their independence, and a number of
ethnic groups seeking their own nation-states.
*The area known as Western Sahara was claimed by Spain in the early
20th Century, but when Spain departed in 1976, Morocco invaded
immediately and laid claim to the area. However, there was also a
local government that called their country the Sahrawi Arab Democratic
Republic (which is recognised by about 80 nations worldwide).
Despite this, Morocco controls about 2/3 of the area, and although it
is not recognised as the legitimate government of the area by most of
the rest of the world, it has no serious plans to relinquish its claims.
*Ever since losing the last pieces of their own territory in the
Six-Day War of 1967, the Palestinian people of the Levant have sought
to have their own nation-state again. Under the leadership of
Yasser Arafat, the PLO engaged in terrorist activities beginning in
1969 to try to force Israel to recognise its demands, including two
period of concerted attacks called the First and Second Intifada in
1987-1993 and 2000-2005.
*In 1993, Israel and the PLO (and other Palestinian leaders) began
negotiating a settlement called the Oslo Accords that, in 1994, created
the Palestinian Authority, a sort of government for the Palestinian
peoples living in Israel. Today, the Palestinian Authority
governs all of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank (land seized
during the Six-Day War), but wants more of the West Bank. It has
also failed to provide the security in its areas that it ought to
have. However, in early 2005 it did hold free elections, and is
on the way to forming a real government—it is only supposed to be a
transitional authority until a real government can be formed, but
because of security issues and lack of Israeli and foreign support this
has not yet happened.
*Because Jerusalem is within the West Bank, and part of it was captured
during the Six-Day War (it had previously been shared by Israel and
Palestine), many nations will not treat it as Israel’s capital, despite
the fact that Israel claims it as such and has most of its government
offices there. Instead, most nations keep their embassies in
other major cities, particularly the largest city in Israel, Tel-Aviv
(Hill of Spring[time]).
*The Kurdish peoples of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria would also like
to form a nation-state, Kurdistan, but have been repeatedly prevented
from doing so by the countries in which they live. However, in
Iraq today, the Kurdish people of the North largely enjoy autonomous
rule, and have made certain that federalism is an important part of the
Iraqi constitution.
*The people of the Caucasus Mountains are also famous for their
numerous ethnicities and their desire for their own
nation-states. Thus far, only Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan
have achieved independence, but Chechnya, a Caucasian Moslem region in
Russia, has engaged in repeated revolts and terrorist activities to try
to win independence from Russia. Other regions in the Caucasus
have tried to do the same.
*The most populous countries in the region are Egypt (69.8 million
people), Turkey (66.3 million people), Iran (66.1 million), Algeria (31
million), Morocco (29.5 million people), Uzbekistan (25.1 million),
Iraq (23.6 million), and Saudi Arabia (21.1 million).
*The least populous country is Qatar, with 600,000 people.
*The largest country in the region is Kazakhstan (2.7 million square
miles, followed by Algeria (2.3 million square miles), Saudi Arabia
(2.1 million square miles), Libya (1.7 million square miles), Iran (1.6
million square miles), Egypt (1 million square miles), and Turkey (774
thousand square miles).
*The smallest country is Bahrain, covering 689 square miles.
*The most productive countries are Saudi Arabia (GDP: $250
billion per year), Iran (GDP: $162 billion), and Israel ($117
billion).
*The poorest country is probably Tajikstan, with a GDP of about $2
million per year.
*Few of the countries in the region have truly democratic governments,
although many claim to be republics. Israel is an exception to
this, and recent revolutions in several countries have replaced or
tried to replace semi-elected rules with truly democratic
governments: Georgia did so in the Rose Revolution in 2003,
Lebanon did so in the Cedar Revolution of 2005, and Kyrgyzstan did in
the Tulip Revolution of 2005.
*In theory, 17 states in the Middle East are republics (although many
of them are not truly representative). Iran is an Islamic
republic, meaning that its government is elected, but is heavily
influenced by the Shi’a leaders of that nation—and even those nations
in the Middle East that do not describe themselves as Islamic Republics
tend to have very influential Islamic communities. Libya has a
military dictator, Colonel Muammar Abu Minyar al-Qaddafi. Jordan,
Kuwait, and Morocco have constitutional monarchies. Bahrain,
Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia have traditional monarchies (which tend
to be strongly Islamic, particularly in Saudi Arabia). The United
Arab Emirates have a federal monarchy, with seven emirs uniting to rule
their lands together (with one land’s emir being the traditional
president and another’s being the traditional vice president and prime
minister).
*At one point many more countries in the Middle East were kingdoms, but
they had revolutions in the 1950s or 1970s (including Turkey (in
1921-23), Iraq, Tunisia, Iran, and Afghanistan). Most of the
central Asian republics were at one point Soviet Socialist Republics
under the USSR, and have mostly been dominated by strongmen since,
despite officially being republics.