BAKU, Azerbaijan - Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Science and Education has accused Tehran of interfering in the country’s internal affairs after Iran’s science minister offered university places to Azerbaijani girls affected by a dispute over school-uniform rules.
The Azerbaijani ministry issued its response on Oct. 26 following remarks by Iranian Minister of Science, Research and Technology Hossein Simaei-Sarraf.
Simaei-Sarraf said in a video message that Iranian universities were open to girls from Azerbaijan who wanted to continue their education. He said Iran was prepared to receive students who, he claimed, were being forced to abandon the religious hijab to exercise their right to education. His comments were published by Iran’s Tasnim News Agency.
Azerbaijan Responds
Azerbaijan’s ministry said the country’s education policy was a domestic matter and described the Iranian minister’s statement as an attempt to interfere in Azerbaijan’s internal affairs. The full response was carried by APA.az.
The ministry then shifted attention to the status of the Azerbaijani language in Iran. It said Iran had no schools or universities teaching in Azerbaijani and asserted that about 40 million ethnic Azerbaijanis in the country had for decades lacked access to education in their native language. The population figure was presented as the Azerbaijani ministry’s estimate.
Baku urged Iranian officials to focus on problems within their own education system.
Dispute Over Dress Rules
Azerbaijan introduced rules in September prohibiting students from wearing clothing that departs from the official school uniform or conflicts with the secular character of state education. The rules do not explicitly mention the hijab, but protests followed reports that some students and teachers wearing Islamic headscarves had been denied entry to schools.
The Iranian minister’s comments and Baku’s response have turned the domestic controversy into a public dispute between the neighboring countries, extending the debate to the language and education rights of ethnic Azerbaijanis in Iran.