Topic of article covering Middle East (5)
I believe the answer is:
theme
'topic' is the definition.
(I know that topic can be written as theme)
'article covering middle east' is the wordplay.
'article' becomes 'the' (the definite article in English).
'covering' says to put letters next to each other (in a down clue, some letters go on top of others).
'middle east' becomes 'me' (abbreviation for Middle East).
'the'+'me'='THEME'
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for theme that I've seen before include "He met (anag) - subject" , "A subject or repeated melody" , "tune used in Enigma Variations?" , "The main sound" , "Thread, melody" .)