Azerbaijan has denied entry to more than two dozen prominent Turkish activists and journalists who have criticized President Ilham Aliyev and his anti-Islamic and pro-Israeli policies.
Reports on Wednesday said that around 31 Turkish nationals had been banned from entering Azerbaijan, mostly over social media remarks that authorities in Baku said threatened Azerbaijani national security and advocated the overthrow of the government by force.
The bans are the latest development in a widening dispute between Azerbaijan and Turkey since last month’s decision by Baku to ban headscarves in primary and secondary schools.
The decision sparked major protests in Turkey against Aliyev, particularly outside Azerbaijani diplomatic missions.
Aliyev has rejected calls from Turkish officials and campaigners to revoke the school headscarf ban, saying the decision is a purely domestic matter.
Criticism of Baku’s policies in Turkey has also included a backlash against Azerbaijan’s growing ties with Israel, a sensitive issue amid the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
Those named in Azerbaijan’s new entry ban on Turkish citizens include Fatih Erbakan, chairman of the New Welfare Party, who has personally criticized Aliyev’s secular and anti-Islamic policies.
Erbakan wrote in an X post following Aliyev’s meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Baku last week that Azerbaijan had become blind to its true friends.
Meanwhile, a court in Baku has also issued international arrest warrants in absentia for seven people living in Turkey for allegedly organizing and attending demonstrations in Turkey against Azerbaijan’s school headscarf ban.
Azerbaijan is one of Turkey’s largest energy suppliers, while Turkey has provided substantial military and political support to Baku in its efforts to reclaim territories that had been occupied for years by ethnic Armenians.
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