Turkey moves to defuse Azerbaijan headscarf row after Aliyev's rebuke

Turkish officials are attempting to ease tensions after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev criticized Turkey over an informal headscarf ban in Azerbaijani schools. Aliyev rebuked unnamed actors for interfering in Azerbaijan's domestic affairs, stating that no one should meddle in their way of life or tell them what to do. He emphasized that Azerbaijan has borne the costs of caring for refugees from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict without receiving any assistance or discounts on weapons purchases.

The Azerbaijani government banned clothing that violates secularism principles, though it did not explicitly ban headscarves. Some schools began preventing students wearing headscarves from attending classes, sparking protests in Turkey reminiscent of Turkey's own headscarf ban in the late 1990s. Turkish officials assured Baku that Ankara would not interfere in Azerbaijan's domestic affairs and would work to resolve the misunderstanding.