Turkish police have detained a nurse in the northwestern province of Kocaeli after she took part in an online hair-braiding protest campaign in solidarity with Kurdish women in Syria, according to a lawmaker, Turkish Minute reported.
Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, an MP from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) representing Kocaeli, announced on social media on Sunday that the nurse, identified only by the initials İ.A., had been taken into police custody for taking part in the protest.
In a post on X Gergerlioğlu wrote, “The nurse, identified as I.A., who braided her hair has been detained. The country has now seen this as well. Words simply escape me.”
In a video that circulated widely online, a nurse believed to be İ.A. is seen sitting in what appears to be a hospital room while braiding her hair. The video was accompanied by the message, “It may not be the same braid, but it is the same pain, the same feeling.”
The Kocaeli Provincial Health Directorate also announced the launch of both judicial and administrative investigations into the nurse who it said shared content on social media supporting the so-called “hair-braiding” campaign.
The directorate said the posts were deemed to violate Turkey’s civil service law and ethical principles governing public employees.
The case is linked to a wave of online protests that emerged after a short video circulated earlier this month showing a man in the Syrian city of Raqqa holding up a woman’s cut braid and claiming that it belonged to a fighter affiliated with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The video, whose authenticity and circumstances could not be independently verified, sparked widespread outrage among Kurdish activists and women’s groups.
In response, women in Turkey and across Kurdish communities began posting videos of themselves braiding their hair as a sign of solidarity, describing the campaign as a protest against what they said as the humiliation and targeting of Kurdish women.
Several DEM Party lawmakers and public figures joined the campaign online. Supporters said the gesture symbolized resistance to violence against women and warned of potential abuses as control shifts in parts of northern Syria.
The nurse’s detention and the investigation launched into her for braiding her hair sparked criticism.
Sezgin Tanrıkulu, a lawmaker from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) representing Diyarbakır, brought the judicial and administrative investigations into the nurse before parliament.
Tanrıkulu submitted a parliamentary question to Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu, asking, “What are the legal and factual grounds for the judicial and administrative investigations launched by the Kocaeli Provincial Health Directorate against the nurse?”
Salih Gergerlioğlu, a human rights activist, also criticized the detention, calling it unprecedented. “This is unbelievable,” he said in an X post.
“She has gone down in history as the first person taken into custody for braiding her hair. How does this make any sense?”
Raqqa, once the de facto capital of the Islamic State group, has recently seen changes in security arrangements as Syrian government forces moved to expand their authority in areas previously administered by the SDF under new integration deals.
The Van Bar Association’s Women’s Rights Center in eastern Turkey was among those voicing criticism, saying the nurse was being investigated for what it described as a symbolic act of solidarity against violence toward women. The group said in a statement on X that braiding hair is a symbol of identity, dignity and solidarity for women.
For many Kurdish activists, the braid-cutting video and the online response have become a warning about what they fear could happen to women associated with Kurdish-led groups as power shifts on the ground.
