Overview
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to Shusha on Nov. 8 for Victory Day events and held a joint news conference with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that publicly reaffirmed their close ties.
- The immediate cause of the row was Baku’s September change to school uniform rules that effectively barred headscarves in classrooms and provoked strong criticism from figures in Turkey’s ruling party.
- Turkey’s domestic fallout included the dismissal of presidential aide Oktay Saral after his public criticism, and Azerbaijan responded earlier by declaring 31 Turkish nationals persona non grata.
- The spat also produced diplomatic signs of strain, such as President Aliyev skipping the Oct. 30 Turkic summit and sending his foreign minister instead, highlighting tensions beyond the hijab dispute.
- Despite today’s public rapprochement, deep disagreements remain over Azerbaijan’s diplomatic independence, its ties with Israel, and Turkey’s warming toward Armenia, and the two states retain tight military and energy links that will keep the relationship consequential.