Same or different?

[Tung Quoc]

Dear teachers,

My teacher wrote:

Middle East = Near East (less frequent).

I think they're different.

In your opinions, “Middle East” and “Near East”are the same thing or different?

Thanks
Quoc

[DOlier]

You are correct, they are different.
The terms date back to the days of the British Empire.
The area know as the Middle East is the region, Iran-Iraq-Palestine/Israel-Lebanon-Saudi.

The Near East (not used nowadays) referred to the Turkey-Greece-the Balkans

[Tamara]

Hi

Hmm.
In Russia /the former USSR/ the list of countries of so-called 'Near East' (that is quite usual and widely used term) includes:
Bahrain, Israel, Palestine territory, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, OAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey.

Whereas the term 'Middle East' (rarely used) refers to the all countries of ‘Near east’ + Iran and Afghanistan.

(And I suppose, for an average Russian 'Near East' = 'Middle East' covering all the country mentioned above).

If I didn't omit something.
_________________
It’s impossible to learn swimming without entering the water…

[Tamara]