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Middle eastern or North African countries can’t join because the member states don’t want them to join and they need unanimous agreement. See Turkeys failed bid for example. Even a country with positive general public appeal like Ukraine is very unlikely to join in the next 10 years

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Yes, unanimous agreement is required once a country has applied, as part of the process of accepting the application.

However Article 49 of the European Union states: "Any European State which respects the values referred to in Article 2 and is committed to promoting them may apply to become a member of the Union".

So Middle Eastern and North African countries (and Canada) cannot apply in the first place.

I think Turkey is in the grey area that allows some wriggle room as it spans both Europe and Asia.

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