The Middle East Studies Graduate Program aims to offer an interdisciplinary study in the following fields:

• 19^th and 20^th Centuries Middle East History

• Contemporary History of Islam and Islamic Thought

• Middle East Politics

• The Modern State, Political Institutions and Political Parties in the Middle East

• Regional and International Affairs in the Middle East

• War and Peace in the Middle East

• Social Change in the Middle East

• Class, Ethnicity and Gender in the Middle East

• Religion and Culture in the Middle East

• Economic Development in the Middle East

The basic objective of the program is to educate the graduate students in issues regarding the Arab World, Turkey, Iran 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 in 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.