Azerbaijan charges Turkish columnist over coup calls

Azerbaijan's prosecutor general's office said on Friday it had charged Turkish newspaper columnist Celal Ciftci with calling for the violent overthrow of the government and promoting religious extremism.

The office said Ciftci, a columnist for the Turkish newspaper Sanliurfa Olay, had been declared internationally wanted and that investigators were requesting help from Turkish authorities.

Prosecutors said the investigation concerns social media posts circulated after a September 21 decree on school uniforms in Azerbaijan. They alleged the material, including content generated using artificial intelligence, advocated a coup and religious violence.

The decree bars additions to school uniforms deemed incompatible with secular education. It does not explicitly mention hijabs, but reports that girls wearing them have been turned away from schools have prompted protests.

The case comes during a rare public row between Baku and Ankara. Oktay Saral, an adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, criticised the exclusion of headscarf-wearing pupils on Monday and urged Azerbaijan to change course.

President Ilham Aliyev's ruling New Azerbaijan party responded on Tuesday by accusing Saral and lawmakers from Turkey's governing AKP of interfering in Azerbaijan's internal affairs. The party defended the education rules as consistent with Azerbaijan's secular constitution and warned that Turkish criticism risked damaging relations.