AA Brifing

The November issue of AA Brifing, Anadolu Ajansı’s (AA) Turkish-language monthly magazine, is now on shelves.

Offering field-informed, data-driven analysis of major developments on the global agenda, the new issue features comprehensive dossiers covering a wide range of subjects—from the conflict dynamics stretching from Iran to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and regional efforts to establish security arrangements, to Europe’s defense and intelligence agenda, the global energy crisis, climate diplomacy, and transformations in education, health, and technology.

Bringing together expert analysis, special reports, original commentary, and compelling infographics on foreign policy, security, economics, technology, the environment, and social change, AA Brifing helps readers make sense of complex global developments through a clear, comprehensive, and multidimensional perspective. Aiming to serve as a trusted reference for policymakers, academics, researchers, media professionals, and anyone seeking to keep pace with global change, each issue examines the forces driving major developments, their implications, and possible future scenarios.

The November cover dossier explores two trends unfolding simultaneously across a region stretching from Iran to the Horn of Africa. It examines how actors who stand to benefit from widening the scope of conflict are extending tensions to strategic waterways, even as countries in the region seek to establish their own security arrangements and foster stability. An accompanying foldout infographic illustrates where these two trends intersect.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan makes a significant contribution to the November issue with his article, “Dış politikamızda bölgesel sahiplenmenin rolü: Mekke Savunma İttifakı” [“The Role of Regional Ownership in Our Foreign Policy: The Mecca Defense Alliance”]. Fidan examines the alliance in the context of efforts to strengthen regional peace and stability, promote development and prosperity, expand the institutional foundations of Türkiye’s foreign relations, and contribute to the transformation of the global system.

Prof. Ali Faris Hameed of Al-Nahrain University in Iraq examines the second maritime front of the US–Iran war, focusing on Yemen and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, as well as the conflict’s implications for maritime security. Mahdi Ghuloom, a researcher at the Dubai-based Observer Research Foundation (ORF), explores what the Mecca Alliance has to offer the parties involved.

Maysaa Shuja al-Deen, a senior researcher at the Sana’a Center, examines the Houthis’ rise to power and their influence in the region through the cycle of conflict fueled by Yemen’s internal divisions, regional tensions, and global turmoil. The dossier also explores the search for regional stability through articles on the war in Yemen, competition among coastal states in the Horn of Africa, and ways to secure the Red Sea.

Former US Ambassador to Syria and Algeria Robert Stephen Ford assesses the course of the war involving Iran and its possible consequences, while Daniel Levy, president of the U.S./Middle East Project, examines the Israeli government's regional policies in light of the Israeli elections. Levy draws attention to the structural problems underlying these policies, arguing that they extend beyond Benjamin Netanyahu and the hard-line figures in his cabinet who advocate violence.
Growing fears of Russia in Europe, the global diesel crisis, and the security situation in the Black Sea are also among the November issue’s major topics. Expert contributors examine whether European intelligence services can operate without US security guarantees and how Bosnia and Herzegovina’s emerging political balance of power may take shape.

The issue also examines various dimensions of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31), which Türkiye is set to host in Antalya in November. In his article, “COP31 Antalya: Kapsayıcı iklim diplomasisi ve Akdeniz’in sesi” [“COP31 Antalya: Inclusive Climate Diplomacy and the Voice of the Mediterranean”], Prof. Murat Türkeş, a board member of Boğaziçi University’s Center for Climate Change and Policy Studies, explores opportunities for climate diplomacy that also takes into account the needs of disadvantaged countries. In her analysis, “Küresel iklim yönetişiminde Türkiye: COP31’in diplomatik ve stratejik anlamı” [“Türkiye in Global Climate Governance: The Diplomatic and Strategic Significance of COP31”], Dr. Pınar Kandemir examines the summit’s importance for Türkiye.

Turning to education, Andreas Schleicher, the OECD’s Director for Education and Skills, focuses on Türkiye’s progress at a time when educational achievement is declining worldwide. Drawing on findings from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Schleicher assesses Türkiye’s performance in science, reading, and mathematics, along with the factors driving that progress.
The issue also features an in-depth examination of social media’s effects on children by Prof. Nevzat Tarhan, founding rector of Üsküdar University, while Prof. Okan Bülent Yıldız of Hacettepe University’s Faculty of Medicine explores whether the changes brought about by weight-loss injections can be sustained over time. Articles on the rapidly changing world of artificial intelligence and developments in cinema round out the issue.

With its November issue, AA Brifing offers readers a rich, multilayered collection of content designed not merely to keep them informed of current developments, but to help them understand the forces behind those events, their causes and consequences, and their possible implications for the future.

AA Brifing is available at aakitap.com.tr, as well as select bookstores and retail outlets across Türkiye.