Emma Watson joins Turkey's laughing women

LONDON

British actress Emma Watson has joined a Twitter campaign in solidarity with thousands of women who post their photos of themselves in defiance of a call by a Turkish politician for them to stop laughing in public.

Watson shared a photo of herself on July 31 with his 13.8 million Twitter followers. Watson's post with the campaign's hashtag, #direnkahkaha (resist, laugh), was also shared on her official Facebook page.

Best known for her role as Hermione Granger in the 'Harry Potter' film series, Watson was named a goodwill ambassador by the United Nations organisation UN Women last month. She has been involved in the promotion of girls' education for several years.

“Chastity is so important. It is not only a name. It is an ornament for both women and men. [She] will have chasteness. Man will have it, too. He will not be a womanizer. He will be bound to his wife. He will love his children. [The woman] will know what is haram and not haram. She will not laugh in public. She will not be inviting in her attitudes and will protect her chasteness,” Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç had said during an Eid el-Fitr meeting on July 28.

“My speech was not just about a few reminders for women; it was targeting men, too,” Deputy PM had said on July 30, after hundreds of women took to the social media to protest him. 

“There are some artists who now laugh artificially and send me their photos. Real laughs relieve a person, but these are artificial ones. Those who go for a vacation with their lovers while leaving their husbands behind and can’t wait to climb poles when they see one,” he had added in a curious reference to gossip news stories related to a celebrity.