The main Islamic organisation in the US (CAIR) is calling for diplomatic pressure on Azerbaijan to allow the hijab in schools
CAIR describes the ban on the Islamic veil in Azerbaijan as «fascist» and calls on the State Department to intervene.
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The Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) is the leading North American advocacy organisation for Muslims. The organisation has asked the United States Department of State to exert diplomatic pressure on Azerbaijan to lift the restrictions on the Islamic veil in schools. CAIR has described the regulations of the Muslim-majority country as’«intolerant and fascist» and has demanded that the students and teachers can continue to wear the hijab to educational centres.
The petition was made public on 12 October by means of a Official statement from CAIR. The organisation accuses the Azerbaijani government of violating religious freedom and calls on Washington to use its diplomatic influence to force a change in the country's education policy. The organisation also accuses several European countries and former Soviet republics of threatening religious freedom through restrictions on Muslim dress.
It is not known that the United States government has accepted the request or initiated any diplomatic action in relation to this claim.
Azerbaijan does not want the Islamic veil in schools.
Azerbaijan is a country in the South Caucasus where approximately 96.1 per cent of the population is Muslim, predominantly Shia. Despite this, It is a constitutionally secular state that establishes the separation between religion and the State and defends a public education detached from religious practices.. In September 2026, the government approved new regulations on school dress that prohibit items of clothing incompatible with the principle of secularism.
The ban on the Islamic veil in Azerbaijani schools has caused several pupils to be expelled from the classrooms for refusing to uncover their head. The restrictions have also been extended to the teaching staff.
Protests inside and outside Azerbaijan
The ban on the Islamic veil in schools has sparked protests in Baku and other cities in Azerbaijan. The religious resolve of some families is reflected in the statements of a father opposed to the ban: «If we make our daughters remove their headscarf, our prayer is also invalid, our fast is also invalid!». His words show to what extent some protesters consider the hijab an inalienable religious obligation that involves the whole family.
The campaign against the restrictions has crossed Azerbaijan's borders and reached Turkey, one of the country's main political and military allies. Protesters gathered outside the Azerbaijani consulate in Istanbul to demand that female students be allowed to return to the classroom wearing the Islamic veil.
Azerbaijan's state television has responded with a robust defence of national identity in the face of foreign religious influence: «Let everyone mind their own country and their own state,» Aliyev declared in response to criticism from abroad. The president has had to appear on state television to reinforce his stance with an explicit defence of national identity: «The State will prevent any attempt to incorporate Arab and Persian values into our national identity. We have our own national values.»The message emphasises that Azerbaijan, despite having a predominantly Muslim population, is a secular state and asserts its right to preserve a national identity distinct from Arab and Persian traditions.
CAIR, investigated for its historical links with Hamas
The Muslim organisation that is now demanding US diplomatic intervention in Azerbaijan has a long history of controversy over its links to Hamas. The accusations against CAIR have also reached American politics. In November 2025, the Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, proclaimed CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organisations. A month later, the Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, He approved an executive order that also designated CAIR as a terrorist organisation. and intended to prevent the entity and its collaborators from receiving certain funds, contracts and public benefits.
The possibility of designating CAIR as a terrorist organisation has also reached the United States Congress. In June 2025, Republican congressman Randy Fine introduced the Bill H.R. 4097, which seeks to compel the Department of State to examine whether CAIR meets the requirements to be officially designated as a foreign terrorist organisation. The initiative remains at the parliamentary stage and has not become law.
So then, The organisation that some US leaders want to declare terrorist is now calling on the US government to exert diplomatic pressure on Azerbaijan. to allow the hijab in schools.
CAIR presents itself as an organisation defending religious freedom and rejects the accusations of terrorism. But its petition presents Washington with a political contradiction: while some US institutions question the organisation's background and call for an investigation into its ties to Hamas, the same entity demands that US diplomacy intervene against the religious restrictions of a Muslim-majority state.
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