WEDNESDAY, NOV. 4 · NO. 20
Today: Turkey moves on Google’s AI answers | Midterms: Democrats flip North Carolina | Korea offers Sinop finance | The state takes over Togg
LEAD · TECHNOLOGY
Turkey Moves Before It Rules: Google Must Give News Sites Fair AI Terms Now
The Competition Board has opened a full investigation into AI Overviews and AI Mode and, citing “strong suspicion,” ordered interim terms for publishers. Brussels and London are on the same road, more slowly.
ABOUT 6 MINUTES
Turkey’s competition watchdog has done what Brussels has not yet done: it told Google to change how it treats news publishers in its AI answers before it has decided whether Google broke the law. On Monday the Competition Board announced a full investigation into AI Overviews and AI Mode, the features that answer a search with a written summary at the top of the page. It also disclosed that on Oct. 8 it had imposed interim measures, because its evidence of exclusionary and exploitative conduct toward news publishers had reached the level of “strong suspicion.” [1][2]
The order covers the core of the dispute. Google must set conditions that do not discriminate among news publishers, that reflect the economic value of their content, and that let publishers choose how their work is used in the AI features without losing visibility or indexing in Google’s other services. [1][3] Al-Monitor asked Google for comment and had received none at the time of writing. [4]
How Ankara moved on Google’s AI answers
Date | Step |
|---|---|
Aug. 27, 2026 | Preliminary inquiry opened (decision 26-31/932-M) [1] |
Oct. 8, 2026 | Interim measures imposed under Article 9(4) (decision 26-37/1000-423) [1] |
Nov. 2, 2026 | Full investigation announced under Article 41, for a possible breach of Article 6 on abuse of dominance [1] |
Source: Turkish Competition Authority.
WHAT THE BOARD IS ASKING
The preliminary inquiry looked at four questions, and the investigation now has to answer them with evidence. [1]
What the board is testing, and what Google must do now
Question under investigation | Interim order |
|---|---|
Do AI answers cut traffic to news sites and other content producers? | No discrimination among news publishers |
Are the content-use terms in publisher agreements unfair? | Terms that reflect the economic value of the content used |
Do the features shut out publishers and rival AI chatbots? | Publishers set their AI options independently of their visibility and indexing elsewhere on Google |
Are publishers treated differently when content is picked or licensed? | Applies to news publishers only |
Source: Turkish Competition Authority; MACCUS.
The last line of the interim order matters most. Google already offers every site a switch to leave its AI features, but leaving means losing all traffic and impressions from them, and French publishers say pulling out costs visibility. The Turkish order says that, for news publishers, this choice must be kept separate from how they show up elsewhere on Google. [5]
WHY IT MATTERS
The money question is traffic. When Pew tracked the browsing of 900 U.S. adults, people who saw an AI summary clicked on an ordinary result half as often as those who did not, and rarely clicked the sources the summary cited. [8]
What an AI summary does to clicks
Google visits in Pew’s panel | With an AI summary | Without |
|---|---|---|
Clicked a traditional result | 8% | 15% |
Clicked a link inside the summary | 1% | — |
Ended the browsing session | 26% | 16% |
Source: Pew Research Center, March 2025 browsing data, published July 2025.
For Turkish news sites, many of which live on search traffic and thin advertising, a summary that answers the question at the top of the page can empty the page beneath it. The board has also shown it will use fines against Google: 2.6 billion lira, about $75 million, in December 2024, and 355 million lira, about $8.9 million, in a separate case in July 2025. [9][10][11] Those sums are small next to Google’s global revenue. The interim order is the stronger tool, because it changes conduct while the case runs.
The order also sets a template. The European Commission’s case, opened in December 2025, asks the same question: whether Google uses publishers’ content “without appropriate compensation” and without letting them refuse “without losing access to Google Search.” The Commission has no legal deadline and has imposed no interim measures. [5] Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority has taken a conduct route instead. [7]
Turkey is not alone
Where | What is happening |
|---|---|
European Union | |
EU complainants | European Publishers Council (Feb. 10, 2026); five French publisher groups (Oct. 29, 2026) [5] |
United Kingdom | CMA conduct requirement on Google search, giving publishers more say over AI use of their content [7] |
Turkey | Investigation plus interim measures for news publishers [1] |
Sources: MACCUS, European Parliament, CMA, Turkish Competition Authority.
PROFILE: THE REGULATOR IN CHARGE
Birol Küle has chaired the Competition Board since November 2019 and was reappointed by presidential decision in November 2023. Born in Ankara in 1964, he studied economics at Hacettepe University and took a master’s in banking and finance at Bilgi University. He spent 1992 to 2010 at participation banks, then headed collections at the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund, where he worked on recovering non-performing loans for the state, before serving on the Capital Markets Board. [12] His board has fined Google before; this case takes it into generative AI.
BEST MOVES
If you run a news site in Turkey, write down your search traffic and AI impressions by month since August. Our view: the board will weigh evidence of lost traffic, and publishers with numbers will shape the remedy.
If you license content to Google or any AI firm, read your contract’s terms on reuse, attribution and payment now. Our view: the investigation will test whether those terms are fair, and renegotiation is easier with a regulator watching.
If you sell to Turkish consumers through search, track how often an AI summary answers your customers’ questions before they reach your page, and build direct channels such as email and apps.
If you run a regional AI chatbot, follow the exclusion question closely. Our view: if the board finds Google’s features shut out rival chatbots, the remedy could open doors for you.
WHAT TO WATCH
Coming weeks: Google’s formal response to the investigation and to the interim order. [4]
Dec. 3, 2026: the compliance date for Britain’s conduct requirement on Google search. [7]
No date set: whether the European Commission sends Google a statement of objections in case AT.40983. [5]
Later: the board’s final decision, which could bring a fine and lasting obligations on how Google uses Turkish news.
IN BRIEF
GEOPOLITICS · UNITED STATES
Democrats Flip North Carolina and Lead the House Race, but Neither Chamber Is Called
Democrats took the first Senate seat they needed in the midterms when Roy Cooper won North Carolina, and held Georgia and New Hampshire. Republicans held Florida. In the House, CNBC’s Election Desk rates control as leaning Democratic, with at least 205 seats for Democrats and 160 for Republicans still to be added to. [13] The Associated Press had called neither chamber and says it will do so only when the outcome is certain; counting runs into Wednesday. [14][15]
Early AP projections
Race | Projected winner |
|---|---|
North Carolina Senate | Roy Cooper (D), a flip |
Georgia Senate | Jon Ossoff (D), holds |
New Hampshire Senate | Chris Pappas (D), holds |
Florida Senate (special) | Ashley Moody (R), holds |
North Carolina 11th (House) | Jamie Ager (D), a flip |
Source: CNBC and AP, as of 02:14 UTC on Nov. 4.
Before the vote, Republicans held the Senate 53–47 and the House 219–214. [14] A Democratic House would bring committee investigations of the administration, and some on Wall Street expected a softer market if Democrats took Congress. [13]
The move: If you have business before Congress, prepare two plans until the AP calls both chambers; committee chairs, and their subpoenas, change with the majority.
ENERGY · TURKEY AND KOREA
Korea Puts Financing on the Table for Sinop, but Turkey Still Has No Builder
Korea’s Export-Import Bank and Turkey’s state nuclear company, TÜNAŞ, signed a memorandum on Tuesday to study financing for Turkish energy projects, after President Lee Jae Myung and President Erdoğan met in Seoul. The two will form a working group; no amount was given, and Turkey has yet to pick a partner for Sinop. [16] Lee said site assessments were under way. The leaders also agreed to widen joint defense production, set up an annual energy transition forum and raise their free trade committee to ministerial level. [16][17]
In an interview first reported by Yonhap, Erdoğan called Korea a potential partner but said Ankara was weighing “all possible choices,” with financing, generation costs and benefits to the economy deciding it. [18] Trade passed $11 billion last year against a $15 billion target. [16]
The move: If you bid for Sinop work, ask Korean partners whether Exim’s working group has terms yet; financing, not technology, is Ankara’s test.
WEALTH & MARKETS · TURKEY
The State Becomes Togg’s Biggest Owner as Vestel and Anadolu Sell Out for €368 Million
Vestel and Anadolu Group signed on Tuesday to sell their 23% stakes in Togg, the Turkish electric carmaker, for €184 million each. Vestel sells all of its stake to the Turkey Wealth Fund; Anadolu sells 12% to the fund and 11% to Turkcell, in cash at closing. The deals still need preconditions to be met. [19][21]
Togg’s owners after closing
Shareholder | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
Turkey Wealth Fund | — | 35% |
Turkcell | 23% | 34% |
BMC | 23% | 23% |
TOBB | 8% | 8% |
Vestel | 23% | — |
Anadolu Group | 23% | — |
Sources: T24, Investing.com Türkiye.
Vestel told the exchange it will use at least 90% of the proceeds within 30 days to repay bank loans that have fallen due. [19][20] The sale came a day after the death of Ahmet Nazif Zorlu, whose group controls Vestel; see The Other Page.
The move: If you supply Togg, map who signs for the two biggest owners now, the wealth fund and Turkcell, before the next model plans are set.
If You Have Time · Five longer reads for the evening, the weekend or the flight.
PROFILE
Ahmet Nazif Zorlu Turned a Trabzon Shop Into Vestel, TAÇ and Zorlu Center
The weaver’s son from Denizli built one of Turkey’s largest industrial groups, from towels to televisions to power plants. He died on Monday at 82.
Ahmet Nazif Zorlu, who died on Monday at 82 after treatment for cancer, was born in 1944 in Babadağ, in Denizli, into a family that lived from the loom. His working life began behind the counter of a shop he opened in Trabzon with his elder brother, Zeki. The brothers later moved their business to Istanbul and Bursa, and in 1976 founded Korteks in Bursa, the step into large-scale production. [22][23]
Home textiles under the TAÇ brand took the family abroad. In the 1990s he bought Vestel, and the plants built in Manisa made it one of Europe’s leading makers of electronics and white goods. Over time the group spread into energy, with renewable plants under Zorlu Enerji, and into property, where Zorlu Center and its performing arts center became landmarks in Istanbul. Today the group also works in metallurgy and defense. [22]
Tributes came from across business and politics. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, head of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges, recalled that the two had set out on Togg together; the exporters’ assembly, Ali Babacan of the DEVA Party and Trabzonspor, the club he backed for years, all sent condolences. [22][24] He is to be buried in Istanbul on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the day after his death, Vestel signed to sell its stake in Togg; the front page has the details.
GEOPOLITICS · INTELLIGENCE
If Democrats Win the House, Jim Himes Takes the Gavel Over America’s Spies
Intelligence Online reported on Oct. 23 that Jim Himes, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, is preparing to chair it if his party takes the House, and would use the post to hold CIA Director John Ratcliffe and FBI Director Kash Patel to account. [25] The committee is now chaired by Republican Rick Crawford. [27]
What the report leaves out is how Himes would use the gavel. He is no outsider to the agencies: he backed this year’s renewal of the Section 702 surveillance law, and he sits in the Gang of Eight that is briefed on the most secret operations. His public complaint over Venezuela was that he had not been told in advance. [26] Expect hearings on process and notification more than a fight over the agencies’ powers.
Jim Himes at a glance ItemDetailBorn1966, Lima, Peru [26]Before CongressRhodes scholar; banker at Goldman Sachs [26]On the committeeSince 2013; top Democrat since January 2023; one of the “Gang of Eight” [26]Record to watchBacked the 2026 renewal of Section 702 surveillance; said he was not told in advance of the January 2026 Venezuela operation [26]Turkey linkMember of the Congressional Caucus on Turkey and Turkish Americans [26] Sources: Wikipedia; House Intelligence Committee.
Jim Himes at a glance
Item | Detail |
|---|---|
Born | 1966, Lima, Peru [26] |
Before Congress | Rhodes scholar; banker at Goldman Sachs [26] |
On the committee | Since 2013; top Democrat since January 2023; one of the “Gang of Eight” [26] |
Record to watch | Backed the 2026 renewal of Section 702 surveillance; said he was not told in advance of the January 2026 Venezuela operation [26] |
Turkey link | Member of the Congressional Caucus on Turkey and Turkish Americans [26] |
Sources: Wikipedia; House Intelligence Committee.
The move: If your company works with U.S. intelligence or sells it technology, prepare for questions on how decisions were briefed to Congress; that is where Himes has aimed his fire.
WEALTH & MARKETS · TURKEY
Turkey’s Inflation Stalls Near 30% as Housing and Schooling Run Far Ahead
Annual consumer inflation was 29.77% in October, a hair above September’s 29.73% and down from 32.87% a year earlier, the Turkish Statistical Institute said on Tuesday. Prices rose 2.58% in the month and 27.52% since December. [28]
Turkey’s October prices, year on year MeasureRateConsumer prices, annual29.77% (September 29.73%)Consumer prices, monthly2.58%12-month average31.23%Education (highest)48.86%Health43.29%Housing, water, power and fuel40.24%Transport36.39%Clothing and footwear (lowest)13.38% Source: Turkish Statistical Institute via Anadolu Agency.
Turkey’s October prices, year on year
Measure | Rate |
|---|---|
Consumer prices, annual | 29.77% (September 29.73%) |
Consumer prices, monthly | 2.58% |
12-month average | 31.23% |
Education (highest) | 48.86% |
Health | 43.29% |
Housing, water, power and fuel | 40.24% |
Transport | 36.39% |
Clothing and footwear (lowest) | 13.38% |
Source: Turkish Statistical Institute via Anadolu Agency.
The averages hide the bills that families feel. Food rose 27.73% and contributed 6.81 points of the annual rate; transport added 6.1 points and housing and utilities 4.71. [28] The 12-month average of 31.23% is also the legal ceiling for raising rent when a home or covered business lease renews in November. [29]
The move: If you rent or let property in Turkey with a renewal this month, 31.23% is the most the rent can rise; the two sides are free to agree on less.
GADGET
Microsoft’s $50 Xbox Nano Is a Real Controller Shrunk for Small Hands
Microsoft’s new controller keeps the full layout of a standard Xbox pad in a body small enough for a coat pocket, and goes on sale on Wednesday. [30][31]
The Xbox Nano in brief ItemDetailPrice$49.99On saleNov. 4, 2026Size and weightJust over 5 inches long; 101 gramsInputs18 standard, plus a programmable Action ButtonConnectionXbox Wireless and Bluetooth; USB-C chargingMissingVibration Sources: The Verge, Xbox Wire.
The Xbox Nano in brief
Item | Detail |
|---|---|
Price | $49.99 |
On sale | Nov. 4, 2026 |
Size and weight | Just over 5 inches long; 101 grams |
Inputs | 18 standard, plus a programmable Action Button |
Connection | Xbox Wireless and Bluetooth; USB-C charging |
Missing | Vibration |
Sources: The Verge, Xbox Wire.
The Verge’s Tom Warren found it surprisingly comfortable, and a good fit for children and smaller hands. The battery drained about 10% every 30 to 40 minutes in his test, but went from 30% to 60% in under ten minutes on a charger. Bundles with Samsung TVs and Meta Quest headsets are also on offer. [30][31]
The move: If you game on a TV or headset while traveling, this is the cheap pad to pack; skip it if you rely on rumble.
CENTRAL ASIA · KYRGYZSTAN
Kyrgyzstan Moves to Keep Its Coal Home for the Winter
Kyrgyzstan’s Energy Ministry has put out for public comment a draft that would ban coal exports by road for six months. Two crossings to China, Irkeshtam and Torugart, would stay open, and the state miner Kyrgyzkomur would be exempt. The ministry says the aim is energy security and avoiding fuel shortages over the autumn and winter. [32]
Kyrgyzkomur exported about 539,000 tonnes by road from January to Oct. 20, worth more than 3 billion som, for a net profit of about 126.5 million som. If adopted, the rule takes effect three days after publication and replaces a June 2026 resolution. [32]
The move: If you buy Kyrgyz coal by truck through other crossings, line up alternative supply now; only the two China crossings and the state miner are spared.
THE OTHER PAGE IN NUMBERS
1976
the year the Zorlu brothers founded Korteks in Bursa [22]
31.23%
Turkey’s legal cap on November rent rises [29]
101 g
the weight of the Xbox Nano [30]
539,000 t
coal Kyrgyzkomur exported by road, Jan. 1–Oct. 20 [32]
The Best of Elsewhere · What is worth your ears and eyes this week, and why.
LISTEN
How to Read Election Night Before the Calls Come In
The Daily (The New York Times) · Tue., Nov. 3 · 35 min
The Times’s polling analyst Nate Cohn walks through which early results matter, which can mislead and why counting can take days. [33] Useful today, while the chambers are still uncalled: it explains why a lead on election night can shrink or grow as mail ballots and late counties report, and which races to watch for the House.
LISTEN
Ian Bremmer on Iran, the Midterms and What Comes Next
One Decision · Thu., Oct. 29 · 53 min
The political scientist argues that the president will strike Iran again after the midterms, and looks at what a Democratic Congress would push abroad and investigate at home. [34] One analyst’s view, clearly argued and open to challenge; worth hearing as the results firm up and the region weighs what a split Washington would mean.
LISTEN
A Free Online Group That Earned Close to $100,000 in Two Months
The Koerner Office · Ep. 349 · Tue., Nov. 3 · 39 min
Chris Koerner talks with Nico Moreno, whose free online group of about 250 members turned a dozen of them into buyers, close to $100,000 without ads. [35] A clear, practical case for building trust and a community before selling anything, with numbers a small business can test on its own customers.
READ
Equal to the Task
Kenneth I. Chenault · HarperCollins Leadership · Nov. 3, 2026 · $29.99
The memoir of the man who led American Express for almost two decades before moving into venture capital, on the mentors and values that shaped him. [36][37] A long look at leadership from one of the most respected chief executives of his time.
READ
Surplus: The History of Too Much and the End of Economic Primacy
Marc Chandler · Prometheus Books · Nov. 3, 2026 · $32.95
The market strategist traces economic abundance from the first farming societies to today’s overflowing capital, and argues that inequality, speculation and political anger are symptoms of an economy better at making wealth than managing it. [36][38] A sharp frame for this week’s votes.
Every pick links to the original. Our note says why it is worth your time; the work is theirs.
SOURCES: FRONT PAGE 1–21 · THE OTHER PAGE 22–32 · YET ANOTHER PAGE 33–38 (ACCESSED NOV. 4, 2026)
Map data: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Natural Earth (public domain) · Map: The Other Post
The Other Post: The Daily Briefing for the Conscientious Leader, through an Istanbul lens is independent analysis for decision-makers. Nothing here is investment, legal or medical advice. Issue No. 20 · © 2026 The Other Post
ISSUE NO. 20
The Daily Briefing for the Conscientious Leader, through an Istanbul lens
Clear sight. Best moves. More options. — For leaders in business, government and society across MENA
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2026 · REPORTED THROUGH EARLY WEDNESDAY, NOV. 4 · TECHNOLOGY · TURKEY · GEOPOLITICS · WEALTH & MARKETS
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