Andres
Actually your ‘geographic ignorance’ comment is incorrect. The Middle East, or Near East as it is often called, is an undefined region. It can refer to Africa as far West as Western Sahara and Asia as far east as Pakistan. Traditionally it has referred to what is now (yes) Turkey, Iran, Egypt, the Arabian peninsula and the countries in between those. Turkey is only about 3% in Europe (Balkans), the rest being in Asia (Asia Minor peninsula). Also, you are forgeting that the original Turks hailed from East Asia (what is now Mongolia), and the Turks who conquered what is now modern Turkey came from the Aral Sea region of Central Asia (Turkmenistan). Both modern Turks and Turkmens decsend from the Turkish tribe of Oghuz (of course they are mixed with others of the regions they conquered by now). Basically, geography and nationality is not as cut and dry as you make it seem