President Ilham Aliyev,
We are writing to you for the sake of Azerbaijani girls and their education. Today in Azerbaijan, girls who wear the headscarf are not admitted to school. They are separated from their lessons, their classmates and their teachers, and teachers who wear the headscarf cannot keep working.
Education is every girl's right. No girl should have to choose between her faith and her schooling. A headscarf does not stop a girl from studying, learning and being of use to her country; a school door that stays closed does.
This decision is wrong, and as head of state the responsibility for it is yours. Removing a girl from her classroom because of her headscarf does not protect secularism; it violates the right to education and the freedom of conscience that the Constitution guarantees. These girls want to study, to build a profession and to contribute to the future of Azerbaijan.
We demand that you end this practice at once and open the doors of schools to the girls and teachers who wear the headscarf. This is not a favour; it is their right.
With resolve,Azad Hicab