The Middle East Studies Graduate Program aims to offer an interdisciplinary study of the Middle East and North Africa. The basic objective of the program is to educate the graduate students in issues regarding the Arab World, Turkey, Iran, Israel and North Africa, to train the researchers and area experts for both public and private sectors, universities, research centers, and archives and libraries, to conduct academic and scientific research, to organize conferences and to publish about the history and contemporary affairs of the region. The program also aims at increasing the academic cooperation between research centers in the Middle East and METU, and developing the national and international dialogue among the scholars working in the field of study.