Inseparable allies for 35 years, Azerbaijan and Turkey now find themselves feuding over a recent Azerbaijani government decree that banned hijabs in state schools.
The Azerbaijani government adopted new dress-code rules in late September for schoolchildren, prohibiting “additional elements of clothing that violate requirements for school uniforms and contradict the principle of secular education.” In effect, any form of religious attire, most prominently hijabs worn by devout girls, is no longer allowed in classrooms.
The ban has fueled discontent across Azerbaijan with reports of scattered small-scale protests. As of October 12, at least 37 arrests had occurred in connection with the ban, the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry announced.
Azerbaijan’s constitution defines the state as secular in nature and enshrines secularism as a guiding principle of public education. At the same time, critics of the ban contend it is an unconstitutional infringement of provisions concerning religious freedom. They also argue that the new rules violate provisions in a Law on the Rights of the Child adopted in early 2026.
The government has demonstrated little tolerance for public expressions of opposition. On October 12, Azerbaijani citizens complained about being unable to access two of the most popular social media platforms in the country, Instagram and TikTok, even when using VPNs. Many accused the government of blocking the channels, although officials made no formal announcement. At the time, the ban was a trending topic among Azerbaijani users.
Over the past few days, the Azerbaijani government faced a barrage of criticism on social media from Turkey, a country that for much of its post-World War I existence experienced strict, military-enforced secular policies. But rigid secularism has given way in Turkey to religious choice during the 21st century as the Islamist-oriented Justice and Development Party (AKP) has cemented itself in power.
Oktay Saral, an aide to Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, helped catalyze an inter-governmental row by assailing the new Azerbaijani dress code. “Leaving a student who covers her head for reasons of faith at the school gate – how can this fit into any conscience, any sense of justice?” he wrote October 12 on Twitter (now called X).
“We expect Azerbaijan to reverse this mistake as soon as possible,” he added.
Other voices within the AKP suggested that Azerbaijan’s ban was serving Israeli interests. Azerbaijan and Israel have forged close security cooperation in recent years; Azerbaijan’s use of Israeli drone technology played an important role in Baku’s reconquest of Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenian forces. Turkey, meanwhile, has a tense relationship with Israel rooted in differences over the issue of Palestine.
Azerbaijani officials offered an immediate and fierce response to the criticism coming from Turkish officials, effectively telling them to mind their own business.
The Azertag state news agency published a lengthy statement October 13 issued by the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party that characterized AKP-linked criticism as “systematic and openly slanderous.”
“It is deeply regrettable that Oktay Saral, the Turkish President’s chief adviser, and members of parliament from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) made populist and irresponsible statements without taking into account the substance of the issue,” the statement asserts. “Such statements contradict the spirit of Azerbaijani-Turkish fraternal relations and can serve to create artificial tensions at the societal level.”
The statement also rejects what it describes as “attempts to deliberately distort Azerbaijani-Israeli relations.”
It adds: “President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly stated from the highest international platforms that Azerbaijan supports a solution to the Palestinian issue based on international law and relevant UN resolutions, based on the ‘two-state’ principle.”
Defusing the brewing feud with Turkey may prove complicated. As with Baku’s recent tangle with Russia over the accidental shootdown of an Azerbaijani civilian jetliner, Aliyev’s administration is framing Turkish criticism as a violation of national honor.
“Baku’s position is clear: mutual respect presupposes mutual responsibility. Respect for Azerbaijan’s sovereign decisions is as natural and necessary as respect for Turkey’s sovereign decisions,” a commentary published October 13 by the state-aligned news outlet Report.az stated.