Azerbaijan bans 31 Turks from entering country as headscarf ban dispute escalates
Azerbaijan has barred 31 Turkish citizens from entering the country over social media remarks that authorities allege threatened Azerbaijani national security and advocated the forcible overthrow of the Baku government.
The move marks a further escalation in a dispute over a headscarf ban between the two countries, which share close ethnic, religious, cultural and historical ties.
Azerbaijan’s decision last month to ban headscarves in primary and high schools sparked protests in Turkey, turning the issue into a diplomatic crisis.
The Azerbaijani interior ministry said those barred from entering the country had also used violent rhetoric rooted in “religious radicalism”.
The list includes prominent political figures, journalists and academics, among them Fatih Erbakan, chairman of the ultraconservative New Welfare Party, who took aim at Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev.
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"After hosting the Zionist murderer Herzog in Baku, you became blind to your true friends," Erbakan posted on X. Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with Aliyev in Baku last week.
Others named in the ban include journalists Adem Ozkose, Ismail Kilincarslan and Hakki Eren; writer Yusuf Kaplan; member of parliament Omer Gergerlioglu; theology professor Mehmet Boynukalin; and Yahya Ugras, deputy chairman of the right-wing Free Cause Party.
Many of those named are known for their conservative views or politics.
The ministry vowed to take further measures in response to similar activities.
Separately, the office of Azerbaijan’s prosecutor general said on Monday that a district court in Baku had issued international arrest warrants in absentia for seven people living in Turkey who had organised or attended demonstrations outside Azerbaijani diplomatic missions to protest the headscarf ban.
Those named included Ridvan Kaya, chairman of the conservative association Ozgur-Der; Abdullah Imamoglu, a writer for the conservative news platform Haksoz; and Fatih Tezcan, a prominent commentator known for his Islamic views.
Tensions between the two countries are running high.
Despite multibillion-dollar investments in each other’s economies, spanning energy, transportation, construction and agriculture, multiple Azerbaijani news outlets with close ties to Baku this week accused Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan of trying to instigate an insurrection against Aliyev’s administration.
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