Map of the region
The map below shows the region and countries covered by OSME (Courtesy of Ian Fisher/RSPB).
NB Some small islands, particularly in the southern Red Sea near Bab-el-Mandab, may require the sketched line of the OSME Region boundary to differ from that shown.
The map above does not represent precise political boundaries nor does it support any opinion where these are in dispute. It outlines the OSME Region, an ornithological concept which includes the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asian republics. The Region contains 35 countries or territories, namely: Egypt, Cyprus, Turkey (including European Turkey), Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Gaza, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen (including the Socotra archipelago), Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, the republics (Karachay-Cherkassia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia and Chechenia) along the north slope of the Caucasus and a small part of the southernmost Russian federation (cutting through the regions of Krasnodar, Stavropol and Daghestan), Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadzhikistan1 and Afghanistan. From time to time we may abbreviate country or territory names, mostly following the international vehicle codes; see Country and Territory abbreviations below. For seabird records, the OSME Region includes the following areas of sea or ocean:
- In the eastern Mediterranean, to the east of a line from the Egypt-Libya coastal border north-northeastwards to where the southern end of the Turkey-Greece international limits adjoin.
- The area of sea within the Turkish side of the Turkey-Greece international limits north and east to their northern end in the Bosporus.
- In the Black Sea, south of a line drawn from the European Turkey-Romania coastline border east-northeast to the southern Russian coastline in Krasnodar at 45°N, then running east along this latitude to the Caspian Sea.
- In the Caspian Sea, from the Russian Caspian coast at 45°N on that latitude to meet and follow northwards the internationally-agreed natural resources exploitation line (the mid-Caspian ‘centreline’) until that line reaches the southern Russia-Kazakhstan coastline border (east of the Volga delta).
- In the Indian Ocean, west of a line due south from the Iran-Pakistan coastline border at 61°37′03′′E down to 10°N, which latitude is followed west until it meets a line projected at right angles from the Yemeni coast midway between the Socotra archipelago and Somalia. The sea area enclosed includes the entire Gulf between Iran and the Arabian peninsula, part of the Arabian Sea where it meets the Indian Ocean, but excludes internationally-agreed Somalian territorial waters.
- In the Gulf of Aden, the line runs westwards from the point where it intersects the above line from the Yemeni coast along the Gulf of Aden ‘centreline’ to the Bab-el Mandab straits. The waters north of this line are within the OSME Region.
- In the Red Sea, the line parallels the approximate centreline of the Red Sea (up to the territorial limits of the African states) north from the Bab-el-Mandab straits to meet a line projecting east from the straight-line latitudinal component of the Sudan-Egypt border2, whose historical legal basis we follow. East and north of the two intersecting lines, Red Sea waters lie entirely within the OSME Region.
NB Some small islands, particularly in the southern Red Sea near Bab-el-Mandab, may require the sketched line of the OSME Region boundary to differ from that shown.
Country and Territory abbreviations
Used occasionally in the ORL and in derived documents, these mostly comprise International Vehicle Codes (those in italic we have devised):| AFG = Afghanistan | IL = Israel | QA = Qatar |
| ARM = Armenia | IR = Islamic Republic of Iran | RL = Republic of Lebanon |
| AZ = Azerbaijan | IRQ = Iraq | RU=Russia |
| BRN = Bahrain | KB = Kabardino-Balkaria | SA = Saudi Arabia |
| CH = Chechenia (Chechenya) | KC = Karachay-Cherkassia | ST = Stavropol |
| CY = Cyprus | KR = Krasnodar | SYR = Syria |
| DA = Daghestan (Dagestan) | KS = Kyrgyzstan | TJ = Tadzhikistan (Tajikistan) |
| ET = Egypt | KWT = Kuwait | TM = Turkmenistan |
| GE = Georgia | KZ = Kazakhstan | TR = Turkey |
| GZ = Gaza | NO = North Ossetia | UAE = United Arab Emirates |
| HKJ = Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan | OM = Oman | UZ = Uzbekistan |
| PS = Palestine | YEM = Yemen |
1 Spellings of Central Asian countries in particular vary, mostly because
the sounds have been transliterated into English from different original scripts
several times in history. For example, we adopt ‘Tadzhikistan’ because it is (often)
spelt that way in correspondence from that country, but recognise that ‘Tajikistan’
is a commoner earlier alternative, although only one of several! This variability
of spelling applies to some other countries and so we have followed the principle
of adopting spellings whose pronunciation, we are told, approximates nearest
to that in the country itself.
2 The OSME Region includes the Halaib triangle, legally part of Egypt but administered by Sudan on the basis of the integrity of ethnic groups therein.