Oktay Saral, a chief adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, announced his resignation Monday after saying over the weekend that the president had ordered his departure amid a dispute over headscarf restrictions in Azerbaijani schools.
Saral had criticized the exclusion of girls wearing Islamic headscarves from classes, sparking a rebuke from Azerbaijan’s ruling party and adding to a rare public rift between the close allies.
In his resignation statement on X on Monday, Saral said he was leaving the advisory post he had held since 2016 while pledging to continue supporting Erdoğan.
“Positions come and go, titles change hands. What matters is not which office a person holds, but which values they stand behind,” he wrote.
Bugün, 2016 yılından bu yana büyük bir onur, şeref ve sorumlulukla yürüttüğüm Cumhurbaşkanımız Sayın Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’ın Başdanışmanlığı görevimden istifamı sunmuş bulunuyorum.
Makamlar gelip geçer, unvanlar el değiştirir. Asıl mesele, insanın hangi makamda oturduğu değil,…
— Oktay SARAL (@oktay_saral) October 26, 2026
His statement followed an interview with the Nefes newspaper in which he said he believed his removal was linked to his remarks about Azerbaijan, although he did not know for certain.
“That is my view, but I do not know for sure. Our secretary-general conveyed the news to me on Saturday. I took it in stride,” Saral said.
He added that he respected Erdoğan’s decision and that Turkey’s relationship with Azerbaijan could require such steps.
“Particularly given our critical relationship with Azerbaijan, it is natural for certain decisions to be taken,” he told the newspaper.
The dispute began after Azerbaijan amended its school uniform rules on September 21 to prohibit clothing deemed incompatible with the prescribed uniform or secular education. The rules do not explicitly mention headscarves, but some schools have enforced them as a ban, turning girls away from classes and prompting protests by parents.
Saral condemned the practice in an October 12 post on X, saying it violated the students’ right to education. Lawmakers from Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) also criticized the restrictions.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s ruling New Azerbaijan Party responded by accusing Turkish political figures of interfering in the country’s domestic affairs.
It defended Azerbaijan’s secular education system and accused critics of using the issue to exert political pressure on Baku.
On Monday Hikmet Babaoğlu, a lawmaker from the Azerbaijani ruling party, described Saral’s departure as a warning to other critics in Turkey.
Speaking to the Azerbaijani Redaktor.az news website, Babaoğlu said the departure should serve as a “moral punishment” for journalists, party officials, social media activists and bloggers who repeated what he called Saral’s mistakes.
He said people should think twice before speaking against Azerbaijan.
Middle East Eye has reported that Baku sought Saral’s dismissal. Saral’s accounts of his departure did not confirm whether Azerbaijan had made such a request.
Azerbaijan also barred 31 Turkish nationals last week, including opposition politicians, journalists and religious commentators, from entering the country.
Its Foreign Ministry accused them of statements targeting Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and security, without identifying specific posts supporting its allegations.
Meanwhile, Erdoğan has also spoken by telephone with Aliyev and invited him to the Organization of Turkic States summit scheduled for October 29-30 in Ankara, according to the Turkish account of the call.
Turkey and Azerbaijan describe their relationship as “one nation, two states,” reflecting close political, military and cultural ties.
The headscarf dispute touches an issue central to Erdoğan’s political record: His governments lifted longstanding restrictions that had excluded women wearing headscarves from Turkish universities and public employment.
The post Erdoğan adviser resigns amid Azerbaijan headscarf dispute appeared first on Turkish Minute.