Azerbaijan schools turn away girls in hijabs, setting off rare protests and a rift with Turkey

Schools across Azerbaijan have been turning away girls who wear Islamic headscarves since Oct. 12 under new school-uniform rules, setting off rare protests in the tightly controlled country, the BBC and Amnesty International reported.

The rules, adopted Sept. 21 as government Resolution No. 309, ban clothing in state schools that contradicts "the principle of secularism in education," the BBC reported. They do not mention the hijab by name. They followed a July 7 amendment to the education law reinforcing secular schooling, DW reported. Similar rules were extended to teachers on Oct. 6.

Some school administrators have read the rule as covering headscarves, DW reported. The regulation leaves each school's pedagogical council to resolve compliance questions.

Protests and arrests

Protests broke out outside state schools in the capital, Baku, and in southern districts including Masally and Jalilabad, the BBC reported. Videos shared online show girls turned away at school doors, including one who asks a staff member, "Why should I have to give up my religion?"

Azerbaijan's Interior Ministry said 37 people were detained in Baku on Oct. 12, the first day of enforcement. Activists reported more than 200 detentions, according to Amnesty. The ministry said those detained had confronted school staff, damaged property and tried to block school activities and traffic, DW reported. Authorities opened a criminal case under Article 233 of the criminal code, which covers disrupting public order.

Amnesty said six minors were detained Oct. 13 on suspicion of trying to set fire to a school. Meduza, citing the Azerbaijani outlet Minval, reported that protesters set fire to a school director's car in one Baku district; no one was hurt.

Ilkin Huseynov, an activist who launched an online platform offering free lessons to pupils barred from class, went missing after leaving his Baku home with unidentified people on Oct. 14, Amnesty and the BBC reported. Local media later reported, citing people close to him, that he had been given 30 days of administrative detention for allegedly disobeying police orders, DW reported on Oct. 16. Authorities had not commented as of the BBC's Oct. 15 report.

Users have reported trouble reaching Instagram and TikTok since the protests began.

The government's case

Azerbaijan is constitutionally secular. Officials say the rules ensure equality among students, Meduza reported. Fazil Mustafa, who chairs parliament's committee on religious institutions, said authorities were concerned about religious groups influenced from abroad, DW reported; that alleged foreign involvement has not been independently established. "A child has no freedom to choose a religion. This is a conscious prerogative of adults," lawmaker Nigar Arpadarai told the website 1news.az, the BBC reported.

Amnesty's response

"Denying girls access to classrooms because they wear a hijab is discriminatory and violates their rights to education, and the freedoms of religion and expression," said Marie Struthers, Amnesty's director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Amnesty called for the rules to be reversed and for the release of anyone held solely for peaceful protest.

The row with Turkey

The dispute has strained ties with Turkey, Azerbaijan's closest ally. Oktay Saral, chief adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, called the restrictions "unacceptable" and urged Baku to "reverse this mistake," the BBC reported. Small protests were held outside Azerbaijan's embassy in Ankara and its consulate in Istanbul.

President Ilham Aliyev's New Azerbaijan Party accused Turkish officials of an "openly defamatory" campaign, and Aliyev said no one should "stick their noses into our way of life," according to the BBC.

Why it matters

The fight pits a secular state's rules against girls' access to school, in a country where public protest is rare and dissent is tightly policed.