Eastern Mediterranean

The Eastern Mediterranean is a loosely delimited region comprising the easternmost portion of the Mediterranean Sea, and well as the adjoining land—often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea. It includes the southern half of Turkey's main region, Anatolia; its smaller Hatay Province; the island of Cyprus; the Greek Dodecanese islands; and the countries of Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon.
Its broadest uses can encompass the Libyan Sea, the Aegean Sea, and the Ionian Sea and can extend west to Italy's farthest south-eastern coasts. Although Jordan does not border the Mediterranean Sea, it is sometimes included in broader Levantine or Eastern Mediterranean frameworks for historical, cultural, or political analysis.

Regions

The eastern Mediterranean region is commonly interpreted in two ways:

The Levant, including its historically tied neighboring countries, Balkans and islands of Greece.
The region of Syria with the island of Cyprus, Egypt, Greek Dodecanese and Anatolian Turkey.

The World Health Organization divides the world into six WHO regions, for the purposes of reporting, analysis and administration. In this context, the Eastern Mediterranean Region is one of those six WHO regions.

Countries

The countries and territories of the Eastern Mediterranean include Cyprus, Turkey, its smaller Hatay Province, the Greek Dodecanese islands, and the countries of Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Egypt.
North-eastern Mediterranean has been put to print as a term for the Greater Balkans: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Romania. A five-author statistics-rich study of 2019 has sought to add Moldova and Ukraine beyond, which others link more to the Black Sea's economy and history. The three-word term is mainly a complex euphemism for the Balkan peninsula used by those who stigmatise the word "Balkanisation" and to suggest parallels with other conflicts of the Eastern Mediterranean.
The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean includes the Eastern Mediterranean as well as the other regions of contiguous Afro-Eurasia: West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

History