President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan withdrew Turkey from the document via a presidential decree in March on the grounds that the treaty violated Turkish values by protecting queer persons from domestic violence alongside women and children.  

Women held signs that read "You will never walk alone" and "We will stop femicides" at the rally, and shouted, "Get out of our way, not from Istanbul Convention!"

Some women held signs displaying the photo and name of Deniz Poyraz, the woman slain in an attack on a local office of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Aegean İzmir on June 17.

Members of the queer community were also a large presence at the women's rally, as the two movements are often found side by side in protests against the withdrawal of Turkey from the Istanbul Convention.