Introduction

Abstract This introduction is different from a usual editorial, which is basically about the articles in the issue. As we had sent a call for papers on the topic ‘Middle East in Turmoil’, this introduction includes not only an appraisal of our articles, but also the author's view of what has been produced by various anthropology associations in regard to the events ever since October 2023. We will see that some had been active before the above date, and we will discuss journals, publishers, university faculties and students. At the end, we pay more attention to prevalent terminologies, and we finish with two very famous poems.