Talk:Middle East and North Africa
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 | On 12 August 2023, it was proposed that this article bemoved fromMENA toMiddle East and North Africa. The result ofthe discussion wasmoved. |
Since there are references to MENAP and MENAT, how about also adding MENAPT? This usage is becoming popular specifically in the context of internal Danish politics, where immigration issues from this region are hot topics. I tried to add it myself but realized the page is protected. I have a reference for you:[1]
And relevant quote: In 2021, the Danish Ministry of Immigration and Integration introduced a new statistical category called MENAPT which specifically refers to Muslim migrants from Africa and the Middle East.
There is also already a Danish-language Wiki entry for this grouping:https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/MENAPT
And here is an example of real-world usage from an article in *The Economist* with an accompanying graph from the Danish Finance Ministry showing "MENAPT":[2]
I also added it toList of country groupings.ZippyDan (talk)14:37, 3 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]
References
 | Thisedit request has been answered. Set the|answered= parameter tono to reactivate your request. |
Description of suggested change:
Diff:
| − | + | CHANGED_TEXT |
LevatorScapulaeSyndrome (talk)20:18, 24 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Ok sorry if this is the wrong formatting, the talk page pop-ups are so aggressive and scary I don't really understand what is meant by it all. I don't edit much.
I really have an issue with the picture used to head the article. The 'How often countries/territories are included in MENA/WANA definitions' one. First, the designations are just this one guy's opinion and there's no citation to support one-or-the-other category for different countries. Second, I think a lot of the categorisation is extremely debatable.
In what universe is DJIBOUTI seen as part of the MENA region than Turkey or Israel? That's absurd and patently untrue. Djibouti is simply not "usually included" in the definition of the region, which is centred around the Arab World at its core (and, by extension, Israel, given its geographic location and the fact the territory is also seen as the Palestinian homeland).
Who or what has ever argued Israel is not part of the MENA? Who has ever argued that Ethiopia IS part of it!? Even the 'Greater Middle East' wikipedia article doesn't include Ethiopia and it has Kazakhstan included (for some reason)! I don't think Mauritania is 'equally likely' to be considered part of the region as Turkey and Israel are either as, while it does have an Arab population and its elites are Arabised, much of the population is Sub-Saharan African and only 30% are 'white Arabs'. Though Mauritania is sometimes included, the equivalence of this with Turkey and Israel shows how unsuited the map is.
It's such a strange picture and completely unbefitting of Wikipedia's standards.
I'm pretty sure the sole reason it hasn't been removed yet is because of how stringent the protections are here. It MUST be removed, it's so silly atm.
Since it says in the text-box that I must make a suggestion, here is mine. It obviously cannot be written "verbatim" because it's not text, so I fail to see what else I can do other than write it in substantive terms.
Improvement: use different actual organisational definitions and colour code them as such. See this article for a helpful example that talks about the competing definitions in a way that is actually citeable and appropriate.[1]
§
Not done: The image in question is a useful and helpful summary of the various MENA definitions that are discussed in the article. It is not based on "just this one guy's opinion;" it is based on definitions used by various international agencies. For example, if you read the article, you would find that Djibouti is considered to be part of MENA by the majority of UN agencies, while Israel and Turkey are not.Day Creature (talk)01:43, 25 May 2025 (UTC)[reply] | Thisedit request has been answered. Set the|answered= parameter tono to reactivate your request. |
I request forGreek andSomali to be removed from the Languages section of the infobox and replaced withCoptic because Greek is only spoken in Southern Europe and Somali is only spoken in East Africa. Coptic is spoken in the MENA region.2A0A:EF40:1281:8E01:AD22:2E4F:F284:CD0F (talk)12:49, 13 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Not done: please providereliable sources that support the change you want to be made.LizardJr8 (talk)17:22, 13 September 2025 (UTC)[reply] | Thisedit request has been answered. Set the|answered= parameter tono to reactivate your request. |
Description of suggested change:
Remove the section not supported by the source, I could not find either "Eurocentric" or "Middle East" in the archived link for that citation.
Diff:
| − | === WANA ===Due to the geographic | + | === WANA ===Due to the geographicambiguity, some people, especially in sciences such as [[agriculture]] and [[climatology]], prefer to use other terms like "WANA" ([[West Asia]] and North Africa) or the less common NAWA (North Africa-West Asia). Usage of the term WANA has also been advanced by [[postcolonial studies]]. |
Alternatively: add "citation needed" after the unsourced part
2405:6E00:655:EC6C:5B3D:3A0F:4ACB:C7D1 (talk)14:13, 31 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
To me it doesn't seem Eurocentric to call the Eastern part of this region the "Middle East".To me it seems more Eurocentric to split MENA in half on the Suez Canal.
But my own background is European, so maybe my own view is Eurocentric.
So I don't know what the local view is, but I know that needs a source.
2405:6E00:655:EC6C:5B3D:3A0F:4ACB:C7D1 (talk)14:22, 31 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Partly done: I will add a citation needed tag for now. We should be able to find sources for this claim fairly easily; I see some cited in theMiddle East article.Day Creature (talk)23:50, 31 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]References
Will the following link be accepted:Gulf/2000 Project?תיל"ם (talk)06:44, 4 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]
.svg)
