Azerbaijan Hijab Controversy in Schools

Azerbaijan is facing a crisis over banning female students

and teachers from wearing the hijab in schools

following a decision signed by the prime minister

last month to amend dress code rules in

public schools, based on a legislative amendment issued

last July, which included adding the principle of

national identity and secularism to the Public

Education Law.

The authorities in the capital, Baku, adhere to this

legal basis to justify the hijab ban crisis

in this country, where Islam is

the main religion. Muslims make up

91 to 99 percent of

the population of around ten and a half

million people. The authorities

and their supporters say the new school

dress code directives are consistent with the principle of

the state's secularism and the secularism of education, although they

did not explicitly mention the Islamic hijab.

These justifications are not strange in a state

that presents itself as secular. But

the strange thing is, why has the world not sympathized

With the tears of Azerbaijan's young veiled girls

being expelled from their schools because of

the hijab and denied their right to education?

And why did the world not demonstrate in support of Azerbaijan's

female teachers who were asked either to

remove the hijab or not continue working?

Indeed, why did even Arab and Muslim peoples not react

to what happened, except for some

activism here and some condemnatory statements there?

Part of the answer to these questions is due to

the fact that what Azerbaijan is witnessing aligns with a war

the West has generally declared against the Islamic hijab

for decades, whether in the countries it occupied or

within Europe or beyond it. Another part

of the answer says: Look for

Israel. Azerbaijan, which has had

close ties with the Israeli entity since

recognizing it in 1992,

and provides it with more than 45

percent of its oil needs, is

the crown jewel of the entity's regional alliances.

Therefore, any developments there,

whatever they may be, will be treated as affairs and matters

Domestic matters that should not be dwelt on.

But in another country that witnessed a similar crisis

concerning the hijab, but is hostile to the

Israeli entity and stands in the way of

its devilish plans, like Iran, the whole world

must act against the imposition of the hijab

there. Demonstrations must be held, demanding

respect for women’s rights and an end to the

confiscation of their freedoms in the United States and Canada,

passing through Germany, Italy, and Britain and Norway

and Sweden, all the way to Japan.

A comparison that proves the relationship with the

Israeli enemy, whether close or distant, dominates

the scene today. It also proves anew that all

talk of rights and freedoms is merely

slogans raised whenever the Zionists want to

raise them and tucked away in drawers whenever

they want to disregard them.