In the run-up to the International Women's Day on 8 March, women in Istanbul demonstrated under the slogan "We have an account to settle, we have the power to build the new". The gathering in Kadıköy, organised by the 8 March Women's Platform based in Istanbul, was accompanied by a large police contingent. Despite police cordons, participants streamed to the ferry pier from several sides, loudly demanding the resignation of the Erdogan government. The Peace Mothers walked in the front line. Some demonstrators carried pictures of imprisoned women, such as the HDP politicians Figen Yüksekdağ and Gülten Kışanak, and demanded "Freedom for the political prisoners". The slogan "Jin Jiyan Azadî" (Woman, Life, Freedom) was chanted to express solidarity with the struggling women in Iran.

The 8 March Women's Platform issued a statement in Turkish, Kurdish and Arabic. "We are united in our anger and rebellion against male and state violence, against femicide, poverty, political Islam, war, the transformation of natural events into massacres, profit-oriented politics and plunder," the statement read in three languages.

The Women's Alliance further stated, "The government's war policy does not stop at an earthquake and imposes on us a life based on militarism, nationalism and sexism. The state tries to cover people's anger about their losses with hatred towards migrants and refugees. People are called looters and murdered by the state."

After the earthquake, it said, it became clear how vital multilingualism is in the public service. "The disaster management agency AFAD tried to communicate with those trapped in the earthquake in only one language. Those who prevent women's diverse solidarity against monism want to subjugate women who are fighting for a free and equal world and against war. Our companions in our women's struggle are being murdered in state-planned attacks. In prisons and police custody, torture is normalised through body searches and the release of imprisoned women is prevented through arbitrary measures. We women have not submitted and will not submit!" the statement stressed.

In conclusion, the Women's Alliance said: ""We know that those who murdered the weavers in New York on 8 March 1857 by locking them up in the factory are the same capitalist rulers who today leave people to die in earthquakes under the rubble and sell tents for the survivors. Our only guarantee against the male-dominated state that ignores our lives is our struggle, our only guarantee is our unity. Today we are here with our rebellion and anger to rebuild our places in solidarity. We women will build an equal and free life without violence and exploitation through our common struggle. We will build the new. We will defend our lives. Long live women's solidarity!"