Textbooks are the main reference sources and effective teaching materials throughout the process of acquiring and transferring information. The information content of these materials, which maintain their topical significance in educational experience, has a great importance in familiarizing with the geography subject further. The main aim of this study is to identify the topics of “Central Asia” and “Middle East” included in social studies textbooks. The social studies 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th grade textbooks were used as sources of data in the study, which was designed in accordance with the document analysis method. The data obtained in the study were analyzed with the descriptive analysis technique. As far as the results of this study are concerned, it was found that some topic contents in social studies textbooks covered both the Middle East and Central Asia. It is equally noticeable that Turkey’s historical ties with the countries in the Middle East and the commercial, political, military, cultural and social issues were frequently included in the textbooks. The issues containing the highest amount of information about Central Asia were encountered in the 4th and 6th grade course contents of the social studies textbooks. In the study, the fact that the information about both regions consists of specific issues and that the political, economic and cultural issues are predominant is due to the historical and ethnic ties of Turkey with those regions. In this sense, it is possible to claim that the information about the Middle East and Central Asia in the social studies textbooks predominantly contains introductory and cultural information aimed for the countries of the region.

Keywords: Social studies textbooks, Middle East, Central Asia