'Harry Potter's' Emma Watson Joins Twitter Protest Against Turkish Politician

Not everything is a laughing matter for "Harry Potter's" Emma Watson after she was named Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women. After Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc's speech early this week, a number of women have started an online tirade against the politician, Emma Watson included. All this because of Arinc's note that women should not "laugh out loud."

The hash tag #direnkahkaha which directly translates as "ignore him - laugh" trended over the weekend thanks to Bulent Arinc's speech at the Eid's closing ceremony. An excerpt of his remark is as follows.

"A woman will know what is haram and not haram. She will not laugh out loud in public. She will not be inviting in her attitudes and will protect her chasteness."

Arinc's comments were of course ridiculed online. A number of memes and pictures of women laughing went viral on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Even Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women, Emma Watson, joined in on the online protest against Arinc's comments.

Watson shared a photo of herself laughing with the caption "#laugh #direnkahkaha @UN_Women". The photo has been retweeted by more than 17,000 people in just a day of its post. The actress also included a link to the newspaper article about the Turkish politician's comments.

Despite the tirade against his comments, Arinc had further offended women a day after his speech.

"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," stated Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc.

Aside from Watson who found Arinc's comments ridiculous, a number of Turkish women spoke up on Twitter along with the hash tag #direnkahkaha.