By AZE.US Editorial Team
Azerbaijani politics has no shortage of real problems. Prices are rising. Young people are leaving. Courts, jobs, education, healthcare, corruption and public accountability remain everyday concerns for millions of citizens.
Yet former MP Tahir Kerimli has found another subject for public debate: how men and women dress in public.
Kerimli said women and men should pay attention to their clothing, be “modest” and avoid “revealing” outfits. He also pointed to Arab countries and Iran, saying they have dress standards, while Europe does not. Azerbaijan, he added, is a secular state and people cannot be forced to wear religious clothing, but public morality and national traditions should still be respected.
That last part sounds careful on paper. In practice, it opens the same old door: politicians judging citizens not by their rights, taxes, work or dignity, but by the length of a skirt, the cut of a shirt or whether a young man wears shorts in the summer.
A secular state does not need soft dress-code lectures from political figures. It needs laws that protect citizens equally, public officials who stay within their mandate and a political culture that does not confuse personal taste with public policy.
Nobody is saying society has no customs. Azerbaijan has traditions, and many families take them seriously. But tradition is not a police baton. It is not a license for officials, ex-officials or public commentators to turn ordinary people into targets of moral inspection.
The real issue is not clothing. The real issue is power.
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When a public figure says people “should” dress a certain way, the question is always: who decides? A politician? A cleric? A television guest? A social media crowd? And what happens when someone disagrees?
Azerbaijan has already seen enough public shaming disguised as concern for morality. Women are usually the first target, but men are not exempt either. Today it is “revealing clothes.” Tomorrow it can be hair, tattoos, music, nightlife, speech, relationships or any other part of private life that someone finds inconvenient.
This is how societies waste energy. Instead of asking why wages do not match prices, why citizens struggle with housing, why young professionals see their future abroad, or why public institutions often fail to answer basic questions, the debate is dragged toward clothing.
That is not conservatism. It is distraction.
Azerbaijanis do not need politicians to explain what is “decent” in the street. They need institutions that respect them as adults.
A state can be secular only if it resists both religious coercion and moral populism. The Constitution does not exist so officials can praise freedom in one sentence and hint at social control in the next.
Public morality is not protected by measuring clothes. It is protected by honesty, justice, responsibility and respect for personal freedom.
And frankly, if the political class wants to discuss what looks inappropriate in public, it should start with corruption, arrogance and indifference. Those are far more damaging to society than a pair of shorts.
AZE.US