Erdogan visits Azerbaijan in bid to ease rift between allies

BAKU: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Azerbaijan on Sunday for Victory Day celebrations, hoping to ease an unusually public rift between two close regional allies.

Tensions flared in September, when Baku revised school uniform regulations to prohibit additions deemed incompatible with secular education, effectively barring Islamic headscarves from classrooms.

Erdogan’s government has dismantled restrictions on hijabs in Turkiye.

Baku’s move sparked protests at home and drew criticism from Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), including presidential adviser Oktay Saral, who demanded that Azerbaijan reverse the restrictions.

Aliyev’s ruling party, Yeni Azerbaijan, denounced such comments as “interference in Azerbaijan’s internal affairs.”