Relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan, usually described as unusually close, have come under strain over Baku’s restrictions on the Islamic headscarf in schools and over differences concerning Israel. The tensions have become public in a relationship built on shared language and a bond summed up by the slogan “One nation, two states”.
Although leaders have kept their rhetoric measured, senior officials have been more outspoken. On Monday, Oktay Saral, chief adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, described Azerbaijan’s move to change school uniform rules as “unacceptable”. The new regulations ban anything that conflicts with the standard uniform or with the secular principles of education.
Headscarf rules spark a public war of words
Writing on X, Saral said that wearing a headscarf is a religious requirement and urged Azerbaijan to reverse what he called a mistake as soon as possible. The following day, the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party (YAP) responded with a sharply worded statement. It criticised Saral and lawmakers from Erdogan’s AKP for what it called “populist and irresponsible statements”.
The party said a recent disinformation campaign against Azerbaijan had become increasingly aggressive, systematic and openly slanderous. The clash highlighted the gap between Azerbaijan, one of the most secular states in the Muslim world, and the Islamo-conservative leadership in Ankara.
Israel ties add to the friction
The dispute also exposed tensions over Azerbaijan’s growing relationship with Israel. Ties between the two have deepened since Baku’s 2020 Karabakh war with its rival Armenia, when Israel supplied Azerbaijan with drones and other weapons.
Turkey’s relations with Israel are far worse. Erdogan has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, and Ankara regularly publicises images of top-level talks with the leaders of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement whose October 2023 attacks on Israel triggered the war in Gaza. Turkey’s pro-government media has been blunt, with one daily newspaper describing the headscarf rules as a gesture towards Israel.
The ruling party in Baku rejected that framing. It said it firmly opposed attempts to distort Azerbaijani-Israeli relations and to use them as a basis for political accusations against Azerbaijan.
Analysts see Baku asserting its independence
Fuad Shahbazov, an independent political analyst, said the changing geopolitical order in greater Eurasia had allowed Azerbaijan to pursue a more pragmatic foreign policy. In his view, Baku now categorically resists pressure from outside actors, including its ally Turkey. Azerbaijan’s emergence as a regional middle power, he suggested, explains its readiness to push back against Ankara, which is seeking influence from the Black Sea region as the Russia-Ukraine war and a volatile Middle East weigh on it.
Despite the public exchanges, officials on both sides have sought to calm matters. On Friday, Kursad Zorlu, deputy head of the AKP, said the two countries knew how to resolve problems “within the family”, which appeared to be a tacit call for restraint online. At a regional summit in Baku on Thursday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan spoke of “the unshakable bond” between the two countries’ leaders, despite it being tested “in very difficult times”.
Ivan Klyszcz of the Estonia-based International Centre for Defence and Security said Baku could not afford to alienate an otherwise good partner, given tense relations with Moscow and the conflict in Iran next door. He also stressed that energy cooperation, which predates the current row, matters greatly to both sides. Shahbazov said Azerbaijan’s energy resources and access to Central Asia give it leverage over Turkey, a point of importance because Ankara wants to remain a transit hub between Europe and Asia.
Friction has not been limited to words. On Friday, Baku said it had issued an international arrest warrant for Celal Ciftci, a Turkish journalist who works for the Sanliurfa Olay daily. According to prosecutors, Ciftci called for a coup d’etat in Azerbaijan and promoted religious extremism.
