New school uniform rules in Azerbaijan have led to rare protests and a diplomatic row with Turkey.
Last Monday the education ministry began enforcing the rules, which were approved on 21 September, and started turning away girls wearing hijabs. Protests began outside state schools in the capital, Baku, and in several southern districts, including Masally and Jalilabad. Video shared widely on social media shows a teenage girl asking why she should have to give up her religion.
Azerbaijan is constitutionally secular and the government strongly enforces that. Protests are rare there, and the interior ministry says it detained 37 people on Monday for trying to obstruct the rules.
Source: BBC News, 15 October 2026