BAKU, Azerbaijan - Azerbaijan’s dispute over religious clothing in schools has raised a broader question about how Baku can preserve its close alliance with Turkey while defending its own social norms and foreign-policy decisions, political analyst Ahmad Alili said.
Speaking on the Novosti Kavkaza YouTube channel, Alili said the current public controversy does not threaten state-to-state cooperation but shows that growing links between the two societies are accompanied by competition for influence, according to a Vesti Baku report.
Alili said the dispute should not be described as a confrontation between Azerbaijan and Turkey. He framed it instead as a clash between secular and religious-conservative views whose dividing lines run through both societies.
Secular groups in Turkey support like-minded voices in Azerbaijan, while conservative groups find allies across the border, he said. Social media allows both camps to join the same debate even when the original issue concerns only one country.
In Alili’s assessment, the controversy is partly a consequence of the countries’ close ties: Azerbaijan’s domestic agenda quickly draws attention in Turkey, while Turkish ideological disputes increasingly shape discussion among Azerbaijani audiences.
He said those differences are unlikely to disappear quickly because religion and secularism have been contested political issues inside Turkey for decades.
From School Clothing to Israel Ties
Alili linked the school-clothing debate to broader efforts by conservative circles in Turkey to influence Baku. Some of the same groups raising religious issues have also criticized Azerbaijan’s cooperation with Israel, he said.
In his interpretation, some actors want Ankara to have greater influence over Azerbaijani-Israeli relations and see the school debate as an opportunity to strengthen ideologically aligned forces inside Azerbaijan.
But close allied relations do not mean Baku will give another government the right to determine its policies, Alili said. He argued that Azerbaijan has shown it can resist outside pressure on questions of sovereignty.
He also cautioned against equating support for Turkey with support for religious conservatism. Positive attitudes toward Turkey extend across Azerbaijani society, including among people with sharply different political and social views, he said.
Strategic Projects Expected to Continue
Alili said he sees no current threat to major bilateral projects. Government agreements and public disputes operate on different levels, and disagreements among political or social groups do not mean Baku and Ankara will abandon strategic cooperation, he said.
Managing those tensions, however, requires more than formal diplomacy. Alili called for stronger parliamentary ties and greater engagement among think tanks, civil-society organizations and public figures able to explain Azerbaijan’s position to Turkish audiences.
He said Azerbaijan has expanded those communication channels over the past five or six years and should now use them for sustained dialogue rather than responding only after each sharp public statement.
The same shared information space that carries outside ideas into Azerbaijan can also carry Baku’s arguments to audiences in neighboring countries, Alili said. In his view, Azerbaijan’s next task is to shape and explain its own agenda clearly while maintaining the alliance.