Asia, Religious Freedom & Education
Azerbaijan school hijab dispute: 37 detained as pupils and teachers are turned away
Azerbaijan’s new public-school dress rules do not name the hijab, but pupils and teachers wearing headscarves have been denied entry. Police say 37 people were detained during protests; the scope of charges and administrative jail orders remains unclear.
The rules do not name the hijab, but schools are applying them to headscarves
Azerbaijan’s Cabinet of Ministers amended the state-school uniform rules on September 21. The Azerbaijani-language legal text bars clothing elements that break the prescribed uniform or are inconsistent with the “principle of secularism” in general education. It does not use the words hijab, headscarf or niqab. It places compliance questions with each school’s Pedagogical Council and makes parents responsible for ensuring pupils follow the uniform requirements. [1][2]
A separate October 6 rule for teachers says their clothing and clothing elements must conform to the secular character of general education. The Baku City Education Department announced monitoring on October 9 to assess compliance by both pupils and teachers, saying school leaders would supervise implementation. The reviewed official notices do not publish a list of prohibited religious garments or explain how schools should distinguish a religious head covering from another permitted item. [3][4]
Pupils and teachers report being denied entry
Al Jazeera interviewed English teacher Gulshan Aliyeva, who said she and her daughter were denied entry to their Baku school this week because they wore headscarves. The outlet reported that other teachers and pupils had also been turned away. Azerbaijani service Azadliq Radiosu reported complaints from Baku and several regions that hijab-wearing pupils and teachers were not admitted, followed by parent and pupil protests and some class boycotts. These reports document individual and local enforcement; they do not establish that every public school is applying the rules identically. [6][5]
Aliyeva said she wants to continue teaching without her religious belief becoming an obstacle to employment and cited the Labour Code’s anti-discrimination provision. An Azerbaijani parliament committee chair told Al Jazeera that the measure was a uniform rule rather than religious discrimination. Azerbaijan’s state-aligned APA similarly argued that it is not a nationwide hijab or niqab ban because the rules apply specifically to state general-education schools, not universities, public spaces or all workplaces. Those are competing legal and policy positions; no reviewed court ruling has resolved whether the school enforcement is lawful. [6][8]
Police say 37 people were detained; the case details are incomplete
Azerbaijan’s Interior Ministry said 37 people were detained after incidents surrounding enforcement of the uniform rules. The ministry alleged that participants damaged schools, obstructed traffic and disrupted public order and normal school operations, and said a criminal case had been opened. The statement establishes the government’s account and the number it says it detained; it does not by itself prove the alleged conduct of each person. [5][7]
Azadliq Radiosu reported October 14 that several detainees had received administrative jail terms of 10, 25 or 30 days. It said the total number jailed, their names, the precise charges and the details of the court decisions had not been fully disclosed, and it could not obtain comment from officials or relatives. The 37-person police figure therefore should not be read as 37 convictions or 37 administrative jail sentences. [5]
Azerbaijan’s constitution protects both secular education and freedom of conscience
Article 18 of Azerbaijan’s constitution separates religion from the state and says the state education system is secular. Article 48 protects freedom of conscience, including the right to determine and express one’s religious beliefs and to practise religion individually or with others. The constitutional text does not answer the disputed application by itself: the central legal question is whether excluding pupils or teachers for a headscarf is a permissible uniform rule or an unjustified restriction on education, employment and religious practice. [9][1][3]
The chair of the Caucasus Muslims Board called the hijab an important religious obligation while criticising disturbances at schools. A Turkish presidential adviser condemned leaving headscarf-wearing pupils at school gates; Azerbaijan’s governing party rejected that intervention. These statements show that the dispute has become politically and diplomatically charged, but they do not decide the domestic legal challenge or the facts of individual detention cases. [6]
How the sources compare
| Source | What it adds | Scope or limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Cabinet of Ministers and Ministry of Education materials · Azerbaijani, translated for this report | The primary wording of the pupil and teacher dress rules, their dates, school-level compliance mechanism and the announced Baku monitoring process. | The texts do not define which garments violate secularism, name the hijab or explain how individual schools should handle religious-accommodation requests. |
| Azadliq Radiosu / RFE-RL · Azerbaijani, translated for this report | Local reporting on complaints from multiple regions, the Interior Ministry’s 37-person detention figure and several reported administrative jail terms. | Names, complete court orders, precise charges and the total number administratively jailed were unavailable; the outlet could not obtain comment from officials or relatives for the October 14 update. |
| Al Jazeera English · English | Firsthand testimony from a teacher denied entry with her daughter, accounts from supporters and critics, and reactions from religious, parliamentary and Turkish political figures. | Individual accounts do not establish uniform enforcement across every public school or resolve the constitutional question. |
| APA · Azerbaijani, translated for this report | The Interior Ministry’s allegations about protest conduct and the government-supporting argument that the measure is a public-school uniform rule rather than a nationwide religious-dress ban. | The detention article relies on the ministry statement, and the separate analysis advocates a policy position rather than independently adjudicating discrimination claims. |
| Official Constitution · English | The primary constitutional provisions on secular state education and freedom of conscience. | The constitutional text supplies the competing principles but not a ruling on the September and October 2026 regulations or their enforcement. |
What remains unclear
How many of the 37 detainees remain in custody, how many received administrative jail sentences and what charges and evidence apply to each person.
Whether criminal charges have been filed against named defendants and whether the underlying court records will be published.
How many pupils and teachers have been denied entry, at which schools and whether enforcement varies among local Pedagogical Councils.
Whether schools or courts will recognize religious accommodations consistent with the prescribed uniform.
Whether any affected pupil, parent or teacher has filed a formal administrative or constitutional challenge.
Whether the diplomatic exchange with Turkish officials will lead to a policy change or formal bilateral action.
Sources & translations
- Azerbaijan E-Qanun legal database — Cabinet of Ministers Decision No. 309 amending descriptions of uniforms for state general-education pupilsThe Azerbaijani legal text was reviewed and summarized in English; the phrases concerning uniformity and the secularism principle were translated without adding an explicit reference to hijab that is absent from the rule.
- Azerbaijan Ministry of Science and Education — Law amending the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on General EducationThe Azerbaijani text was reviewed; its additions concerning nationality and secularism and compliance with pupil and teacher dress requirements were summarized without extending their scope.
- Azerbaijan E-Qanun legal database — Requirements for the clothing of educators in state general-education institutionsThe provision requiring teachers’ clothing and clothing elements to comply with the secularism principle was translated from Azerbaijani; the rule does not explicitly name the hijab.
- Baku City Education Department — Monitoring will be organized on clothing requirements in state general-education institutionsThe Azerbaijani notice was reviewed and summarized in English; monitoring, school-leadership supervision and parental responsibility were kept distinct.
- Azadliq Radiosu / RFE-RL — Some detainees jailed administratively over hijab protestsThe Azerbaijani article was reviewed and summarized in English; the reported 10-, 25- and 30-day terms are described only as applying to several unspecified detainees, not all 37.
- Al Jazeera English — Tensions with teachers, pupils and Turkiye: Inside Azerbaijan’s hijab row
- APA — Interior Ministry: 37 people detained over gross disturbance of public orderThe Azerbaijani account was reviewed; allegations of damage, obstruction and public-order violations remain attributed to the Interior Ministry.
- APA — There is no hijab and niqab ban in Azerbaijan: school dress rules are based on secularismThe Azerbaijani analysis was reviewed and summarized as a government-supporting policy argument; its distinction between state general-education schools and a nationwide religious-dress ban was preserved.
- President of the Republic of Azerbaijan — Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan
Updates & corrections
- — Initial report distinguishes rules that invoke secularism without naming the hijab from their reported application to headscarves, and separates the Interior Ministry’s 37-person detention figure from the smaller undisclosed number reported to have received administrative jail terms.