Tensions over headscarves, Israel test Azerbaijan-Turkiye ties

The normally close ties between Turkiye and Azerbaijan have come under strain, fuelled by a dispute over Baku’s restrictions on headscarves in schools and disagreements over Israel. Public tensions have become evident in what has traditionally been a very close relationship between two nations which share a common language and whose bond is characterised by the slogan: One nation, two states. Although the rhetoric has remained restrained at the top, senior officials have been more outspoken in their reactions. On Monday, Oktay Saral, chief adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, shed his normal diplomatic reserve to denounce as “unacceptable” Azerbaijan’s move to change school uniform regulations , banning anything that conflicts with the normal uniform or the secular principles of education. “The headscarf is not an obstacle; it is a requirement of faith!

The right to education cannot be sacrificed to any ideological imposition! ” he wrote on X. “We expect Azerbaijan to reverse this mistake as soon as possible. ” The following day, the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party (YAP) hit back with a sharply worded statement denouncing Saral and MPs from Erdogan’s AKP for their “populist and irresponsible statements”. “The recent disinformation campaign targeting Azerbaijan has become increasingly aggressive, systematic, and openly slanderous,” it said. The confrontation reflected sharp differences between Azerbaijan — one of the most secular states in the Muslim world — and the leadership in Ankara. But it also highlighted tensions over the growing rapprochement between Azerbaijan and Israel since Baku’s 2020 Karabakh war with arch-foe Armenia, when the Israelis supplied them with drones and other weaponry. Turkiye’s ties with Israel, by contrast, could hardly be worse, with…