A protest in Istanbul on September 21, 2022 in support of women in Iran. (Photo credit : Yasin AKGUL / AFP)
A Turkish woman cut her hair in solidarity with Iran's Mahsa Amini during a protest held outside Tehran's Istanbul consulate on Wednesday.
Turkish and Iranian women outside the consulate brandished portraits of 22-year-old Amini, who died last week after being arrested by Iran's morality police for allegedly wearing a headscarf in an "improper" way.
"We are all Mahsa Amini," read one banner. "Iranian women's fight for freedom is our own fight. Long live our international solidarity!" another read.
Nasibe Samsaei, an Iranian woman who cut her hair outside the consulate, said she was following the example of other women who have joined protests across Iran. These protests began Saturday at Amini's funeral in Iran's Kurdistan province and have since engulfed much of the country, prompting confrontations as security forces seek to suppress them. At least eight people have died, according to official figures and human rights groups.
Several other Turkish women rights' activists cut their hair in messages posted to Twitter. "The women who resist in Iran will never walk alone," one of the Twitter posts said.
A large police force was deployed outside the consulate, but the protest ended peacefully, according to an AFP photographer. Turkey has a large Iranian diaspora, with an estimated 120,000 Iranians inside the country as of 2021.
Amini's death unleashed simmering anger over issues including personal freedoms in the Islamic Republic, which is reeling from economic sanctions.