Saral's exit exposes strains over Azerbaijan's sovereignty, Saymaz argues

The Turkish journalist links a headscarf-policy dispute to deeper resentment over Ankara's rhetoric about Azerbaijan and the Karabakh victory.

Channel: SÖZCÜ Televizyonu ·

TurkeyStory of October 27, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? One of SÖZCÜ Televizyonu's most watched videos since yesterday, with 19,685 views.

SÖZCÜ Televizyonu: The news channel of the opposition-leaning Turkish newspaper Sözcü, since 2021. 2.3M subscribers and 3B views.

Oktay Saral İstifasının Perde Arkası! Ankara Bakü Hattını İsmail Saymaz Anlattı! Erdoğan, Aliyev

Things we can learn from the video

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1:10Saymaz argues that Ankara treats Azerbaijan as a dependent rather than an equal sovereign state.
2:05He distinguishes Azerbaijan's secular public life and Shiite heritage from Turkey's religious and political experience.
3:30The broadcast displays Saral's post criticizing Azerbaijan's headscarf policies, which Saymaz links to the diplomatic dispute.
4:40Saymaz says Turkish claims of credit for the Karabakh victory have offended Azerbaijani national pride.
6:17He argues that supporting freedom of dress does not justify imposing policies on another country.
7:22Citing Azerbaijani contacts, Saymaz links a tense Erdoğan-Aliyev meeting to Saral's departure.

Turkey and Azerbaijan should deal with each other as equal states, not as patron and dependent: that is İsmail Saymaz's central argument in a discussion of Turkish presidential chief adviser Oktay Saral's resignation.

Speaking on Turkey's SÖZCÜ Televizyonu with presenter Ekrem Açıkel, the journalist links Saral's departure to a social media post criticizing Azerbaijan's headscarf regulations. The broadcast shows the post as Saymaz describes the backlash from Baku and argues that Ankara has misread its close ally.

His comparison is pointed: he says the governing Justice and Development Party has begun treating Azerbaijan like Northern Cyprus, rather than an independent country entitled to make its own decisions. Azerbaijan, in the South Caucasus, has its own political history and security concerns, he emphasizes.

Saymaz describes a society with Shiite religious heritage but a strongly secular public life, where religion plays a different everyday role than in Turkey. He also identifies concern about Iranian religious influence as part of Baku's approach. Supporting freedom of dress, he argues, does not give Turkish officials the right to impose rules or publicly reprimand Azerbaijan.

The dispute extends beyond headscarves. Saymaz says Turkish rhetoric claiming Azerbaijan's Karabakh victory as Turkey's achievement has offended Azerbaijani national pride. He presents President Ilham Aliyev's response as an insistence that Azerbaijan won the victory itself, while paying for the military assistance it received.

Near the end, Saymaz cites Azerbaijani contacts who describe a tense meeting between Aliyev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He links that encounter to Saral's exit; this is his account of the diplomatic background, rather than a statement from either presidency.

When Açıkel tries to move to a break, Saymaz presses on to finish his argument: close ties do not erase sovereignty, and Azerbaijan cannot be treated as subordinate to Turkey.

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