AKP official: Ankara, Baku can resolve issues ‘within the family’

ANKARA

A senior official from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) said disputes between Türkiye and Azerbaijan should be resolved “within the family” amid recent controversies.

“There may be differences in the way our states proceed,” AKP deputy chair Kürşad Zorlu said at an event in Ankara marking Kyrgyzstan’s Independence Day.

He said the two countries respected each other’s decisions and sovereignty despite possible differences in their approaches.

“We also know how to discuss our problems within our family council, in a manner befitting us,” he added.

Relations between Ankara and Baku have been tested over differing approaches to ties with Israel and a regulatory change in Azerbaijan that has raised concerns about restrictions on students wearing headscarves in schools.

The new rules covering primary, middle and high schools prohibit additional clothing items that “disrupt the uniformity of school uniforms and are incompatible with the principle of secularism in education.”

Oktay Saral, a chief adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, criticized the measure in a social media post on Oct. 13.

“Preventing the right to education of students wearing headscarves in Azerbaijan is unacceptable!” Saral wrote. “Such an approach must never be allowed in this day and age!”

Erdoğan has not publicly commented on the issue yet.

Azerbaijan’s parliamentary working group on interparliamentary relations with Türkiye said it felt “serious concern and sadness” over criticism of Baku by some Turkish media outlets and political circles.

AKP spokesperson Ömer Çelik later said groups protesting against Azerbaijan in Türkiye had no affiliation with the ruling party or government.

Zorlu directed attention to Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan for Ankara’s position on the issues.

“Our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s love for Azerbaijan comes from the heart, from the soul and encompasses a vision that will continue to move resolutely into the future,” Zorlu said.

Erdoğan is likely to meet Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev on the sidelines of a summit in Türkiye later this month.