Azerbaijan arrests 37 amid school hijab ban protests, prompting row with Turkey

Azerbaijan’s new school dress code, which authorities say enforces secular principles, has set off student protests, a nationwide social media campaign and the arrests of 37 people, New Arab reported. The changes, implemented across primary and secondary schools this week, effectively ban the Muslim hijab in state schools, according to that account.

The government framed the change as an amendment to the Descriptions of Uniforms for Students of State General Education Institutions, a move approved last month and described by the state-run Azerbaijani Press Agency as intended to create a unified dress code reflecting the country’s secular principle.

Local Azerbaijani media told New Arab that pupils at at least two schools refused to attend classes in protest, and that demonstrations by students occurred outside schools on Monday. New Arab said a criminal investigation has been opened into disturbing public order and that 37 people were arrested.

The article described a nationwide social media campaign opposing the dress rules, and linked the measures to a diplomatic dispute with Turkey over the restrictions. New Arab reported that the new rules prohibit clothing the government views as violating secularism, characterising the policy change as an effective ban on the hijab in state education institutions.

The reporting names students and pupils as the primary actors in the street-level protests and class boycotts, and identifies Azerbaijani authorities as the enforcers of the new uniform code.

New Arab cites the state-run Azerbaijani Press Agency for the legal framing of the amendment, while attributing the numbers and protest descriptions to local Azerbaijani media and its own reporting.

The article also notes the wider public reaction on social media and says the measures have provoked a row with Turkey, without detailing that country’s specific public actions or statements.

The account confines itself to events around the school dress rules: the formal amendment approved last month, the implementation across state schools this week, student boycotts at a minimum of two schools, demonstrations outside schools on Monday, the opening of a criminal investigation into disturbing public order, and 37 arrests.

New Arab presents those items as reported facts drawn from Azerbaijani state and local media and its own reporting, and does not provide independent verification of the arrests, the contents of the criminal investigation, or Turkey’s exact diplomatic steps.

Only the facts cited above are contained in New Arab’s text: the amendment’s stated aim to reflect secularism, the implementation of the dress rules in state primary and secondary schools this week, at least two school boycotts, demonstrations outside schools on Monday, a nationwide social media campaign, the opening of a criminal investigation into disturbing public order, and 37 arrests.

The piece frames the measures as provoking public opposition and a diplomatic row with Turkey but does not supply further official statements, courtroom filings, or arrest records.