Erdogan plans Azerbaijan visit to ease rift

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to visit Baku on Sunday for Azerbaijan's Victory Day celebrations, seeking to ease an unusually public rift between two close regional allies.

Tensions flared in September after Azerbaijan revised school uniform rules to prohibit additions deemed incompatible with secular education, effectively barring Islamic headscarves from classrooms.

The move drew criticism from figures in Erdogan's Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party, including presidential adviser Oktay Saral, who demanded that Azerbaijan reverse the restrictions. Azerbaijan's ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party denounced the comments as interference in the country's internal affairs.

Baku also declared 31 Turkish nationals, including an opposition lawmaker and party leaders, persona non grata over critical social media posts. Erdogan later dismissed Saral, but Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stayed away from an October 30 summit of Turkic leaders in Ankara despite a personal invitation from Erdogan.

Erdogan told reporters on Thursday that he planned to visit Azerbaijan on November 8 unless there were extraordinary circumstances. He said he had spoken with Aliyev and sent his foreign minister and intelligence chief to Baku.

Analysts cited in the item said the dispute also reflects deeper tensions over Azerbaijan's independence in foreign policy, its close ties with Israel and Turkey's rapprochement with Armenia.

November 8 marks Azerbaijan's capture of Shusha in Karabakh during its war with Armenia, a victory achieved with Turkish backing. Turkey and Azerbaijan describe their relationship as “one nation, two states” and remain closely linked by military and energy ties.