Why is the Turkish media treating Azerbaijan worse than the Armenians ever did?

In recent days, a smear campaign against Azerbaijan launched by certain Turkish media outlets and segments of social media has gone beyond all acceptable limits. Disinformation claiming that a total ban on the hijab has supposedly been imposed in our country is being amplified internationally, deliberately creating a biased and distorted perception of Azerbaijan. Yet any regulation or public debate on the domestic agenda is a sovereign right of the independent Azerbaijani state and strictly an internal matter. The aggressive politicisation of this issue by certain circles in Turkey is incompatible with the principles of alliance and brotherhood.

A simple question must be put to those circles that portray themselves as “guardians of Islam” and defenders of the Muslim community: for years, as Israel has devastated Gaza and Palestine and innocent people have been killed, what practical action have you taken beyond eloquent speeches and empty statements? Those who lack the power to amplify the legitimate voice of Muslims on the global stage or prevent such tragedies have, for some reason, summoned all their courage to challenge Azerbaijan’s domestic regulations and constitutional order.

The biased attitude displayed today by certain segments of the Turkish media has overshadowed even the Armenian propaganda machine, which openly pursues an anti-Azerbaijani agenda, and Iranian circles that have engaged in ideological subversion in the South Caucasus for years. Such an eagerness to pit two strategically allied states against each other amounts to a profound provocation carried out under the guise of brotherhood.

Isn’t our shared ethnic origin, history and unwavering Turkic identity the fundamental bond that unites us? Can the boundaries of our strategic partnership and historic unity, formalised by the Shusha Declaration, really be determined by the manipulation of certain ideological groups? If the brotherhood built over many years could be shaken by a single public debate, where would that leave the sincerity of all the lofty statements made until now?

This criticism does not apply to the brotherly Turkish people or the Turkish state as a whole. There are many rational, secular and intellectual circles in Turkey that analyse developments carefully, respect Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and refuse to turn national and spiritual values into political instruments. Our criticism and objection are directed at the radical political opportunists who have distanced themselves from Turkic consciousness, remained under the influence of Arab culture, undermined our regional unity and brazenly interfered in the internal affairs of a brotherly country. Azerbaijan cannot become a target of populist games staged by anyone for the benefit of their domestic audience.

Ismayil Shahli