Azerbaijan has delivered a pointed rebuke to Ankara after a senior adviser to President Erdoğan publicly criticized Baku...

Azerbaijan has delivered a pointed rebuke to Ankara after a senior adviser to President Erdoğan publicly criticized Baku's restrictions on Islamic headscarves in schools. The response from Azerbaijan's ruling establishment was blunt: Türkiye is a brotherly nation, not a political supervisor with authority over Azerbaijan's domestic affairs. The dispute has put a spotlight on the limits of one of the region's most celebrated alliances. The two countries have built their relationship on the slogan "One Nation, Two States," backed by deep defense ties, energy cooperation, and the 2021 Shusha Declaration, which formally elevated them to allied status. But the Shusha agreement does not bind either country to automatic military participation in the other's conflicts, and Baku has consistently pursued foreign policy priorities that don't always align with Ankara's. The adviser at the center of the storm is Oktay Saral, a close figure to Erdoğan, whose comments on Azerbaijani domestic policy were seen in Baku as a step well beyond the limits of the partnership. Azerbaijani officials made clear that shared history and military cooperation do not translate into Turkish veto power over internal decisions. The friction does not appear to point toward a rupture in relations. Both governments have strong incentives to keep the alliance intact, given their shared interests in the South Caucasus, particularly following Azerbaijan's victory in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, in which Turkish military support, including Bayraktar drones, played a significant role. What the episode does expose is that Aliyev runs a government that answers to Azerbaijani national interests first, even when the criticism comes from Erdoğan's own circle. For Ankara, which has positioned itself as the leading voice of the Turkic world, that is a meaningful signal. #Turkey #Azerbaijan #Caucasus