The protest was led by opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, in response to a lengthy prison sentence that Enis Berberoğlu received for allegedly giving the press a video that shows Turkish intelligence smuggling weapons into Syria.

The march concluded in Istanbul on 9 July with a rally attended by hundreds of thousands of people, during which Kılıçdaroğlu spoke at length about the effect that the government purge has had on the judiciary and rule of law in Turkey.

[9] The Guardian reported that interviews with people involved with the Turkish judiciary and various experts on the topic has shown:[9] a broad and systematic attempt at intimidating and reshaping Turkey's judicial branch in an effort to further consolidate power in the hands of the ruling AKP and Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.Experts have commented that the Turkish justice system was "crippled" following the 2016 coup attempt.

[9] In an opinion piece published in The New York Times, opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu stated that he and others were marching for "democracy, justice and freedom from fear and authoritarian rule in Turkey.

"[11] Kılıçdaroğlu listed democracy, rule of law, freedom of expression, the jailing of parliament members, and dysfunctional courts as reasons for the march.

[11] The march began in Ankara on 15 June 2017 after CHP member Enis Berberoğlu was sentenced to 25 years in prison for providing the opposition paper Cumhuriyet with a video that showed Turkish intelligence agents smuggling weapons into Syria.

[3] Protestors gave many different reasons for participating in the March, including a court decision permitting a mining project in Artvin that was opposed by many local residents and other citizens throughout the country.

[20] In the aftermath of the July 2016 coup attempt, the government declared a "state of emergency" in which 50,000 Turks have been arrested and a further 140,000 people have been fired or suspended from their jobs, including the chairman of Amnesty International Turkey.

Judge Aydin Sefa Akay, a member of the United Nations war crime panel, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for suspected involvement in the coup attempt.

[15] The march reached Istanbul on 9 July 2017 with a mass rally attended by hundreds of thousands of people in Maltepe, where Berberoğlu is imprisoned[1] – the biggest opposition gathering since the protests in Gezi Park in 2013.

During his speech Kılıçdaroğlu said that the state of emergency declared by Erdoğan and his government in response to the 2016 coup attempt had suspended the powers of the national parliament and the judiciary.

"[26][27] He read a list of demands which included an end to the state of emergency, an independent judiciary, and the release of imprisoned journalists, politicians, and others who were arrested during the purges that followed the coup attempt.

"[33][34] Some commentators at the pro-government Daily Sabah newspaper have written that the march "is an attempt to release some pressure emerging from intra-party dissident voices".