OMM Newsroom
Azerbaijan’s enforcement of school uniform rules that prevent girls wearing hijabs from attending state schools has sparked rare protests and a public dispute with Turkey, its closest ally.
Videos shared widely on social media show girls challenging school staff over the restrictions. In one clip, a pupil asks why she should have to give up her religion, while other girls in hijabs applaud behind her, according to the BBC.
The rules were enforced from Monday, prompting demonstrations outside schools in Baku and several southern districts, including Masally and Jalilabad. Protests are uncommon in Azerbaijan, a country of 10.5 million people.
The regulations, approved on 21 September, prohibit clothing that contradicts “the principle of secularism in education” in state schools but do not explicitly mention the hijab. Similar rules for teachers were introduced on 6 October.
Azerbaijan’s Interior Ministry said 37 people were detained on Monday for trying to obstruct the rules and “grossly violate public order”.
Detentions and reports of online restrictions
Shahiza Huseynova, a mother protesting outside a school in Baku’s Mashtaga district, was detained on Tuesday. Her husband, Agha, told the independent Azerbaijani-language broadcaster “Meydan TV” that she had been warned to remove her child’s hijab or face prison.
Friends have also been unable to contact activist Ilkin Huseynov, who launched an online platform called “Let Leyli Go to School” on Tuesday. The site offers free lessons from volunteer teachers to pupils barred from class. A friend said Huseynov left his home in Baku with unidentified men at about 16:00 on Wednesday and that his phone had been switched off since.
Authorities have not commented on Huseynov’s whereabouts. The platform’s “Instagram” page could not be accessed on Thursday. Since the protests began, users have reported problems reaching “Instagram” and “TikTok” without a virtual private network.
Most demonstrations have taken place in religiously conservative neighbourhoods in Baku’s outlying settlements and in southern districts near the 765km border with Iran. Azerbaijan’s authorities have long been wary of religious influence from Iran, where more ethnic Azerbaijanis live than in Azerbaijan itself.
On the night of 13 October, Azerbaijan’s State Service for Special Communications and Information Security said a “foreign hacker group” had attacked more than 100 state websites. A pro-Iranian group calling itself the 313 Team, or Cyber Islamic Resistance, claimed responsibility.
Turkish officials criticise the restrictions
Azerbaijani officials have defended the rules. MP Nigar Arpadarai told the “1news.az” website that children did not choose to wear the hijab themselves but were influenced by their families. “A child has no freedom to choose a religion. This is a conscious prerogative of adults,” she said.
The dispute has spread to Turkey, which supported Azerbaijan during its 2020 war with Armenia over Garabagh. The two countries describe their relationship as “one nation, two states”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has spoken of creating a “pious generation”. His chief adviser, Oktay Saral, called Azerbaijan’s restrictions “unacceptable” and urged Baku to reverse them. “A headscarf is not an obstacle; it is a requirement of one’s faith!” he wrote on “X”. Several MPs from Turkey’s governing AK Party also criticised the rules.
Demonstrations were held outside Azerbaijan’s embassy in Ankara, organised by the Islamist movement Köklü Değişim, which is linked to Hizb ut-Tahrir, and outside its consulate in Istanbul, organised by the conservative Islamist group Özgür-Der.
Azerbaijan’s ruling New Azerbaijan Party accused Turkish officials of conducting an “openly defamatory” campaign and making “baseless accusations”. It said Saral’s comments risked damaging relations and warned against interference in the country’s internal affairs. Earlier this month, President Ilham Aliyev said no one should “stick their noses into our way of life”.
Turkish protesters have linked the restrictions to Azerbaijan’s close ties with Israel, which sells weapons to Baku and buys Azerbaijani oil. Turkey’s relations with Israel have deteriorated over Gaza, while Azerbaijan has sought to maintain ties with both countries.
On Thursday, during a regional security summit hosted by Azerbaijan in Baku, delegations from Turkey, Iran and other countries walked out of the hall while Israeli President Isaac Herzog was speaking.
