The Musa Anter Peace Train was a failed 1997 campaign organized by the German Hannover Appell for a peaceful solution for the Kurdish-Turkish conflict. It was named in honor of the

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

poet and writer

Musa Anter Musa Anter (1920 – 20 September 1992), also known as "Apê Musa" (, literally "Uncle Musa"), was a Kurdish writer, journalist and intellectual. Anter was assassinated by Turkish JITEM in September 1992. Early life and education He was born i ...

. The original plan was for a chartered train to leave

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

on 26 August 1997 and arrive in

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, it is ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

on 1 September. The

Turkish government The Government of Turkey () is the national government of Turkey. It is governed as a unitary state under a presidential representative democracy and a constitutional republic within a pluriform multi-party system. The term government can me ...

opposed the campaign, and in response

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

denied permission for the train to cross their territory. The peace activists then took airline flights to

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

and tried to travel together to Diyarbakir in a bus convoy. They reached

Urfa Urfa, officially called Şanlıurfa (), is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. The city was known as Edessa from Hellenistic period, Hellenistic times and into Christian times. Urfa is situated on a plain abo ...

in southeast Turkey, where Turkish police denied them access to Diyarbakir. The hundreds of participants in the Peace Train included European and African members of parliaments. Among the supporters of the campaign were

Nobel Peace prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

laureates

José Ramos-Horta José Manuel Ramos-Horta GCL GColIH (; born 26 December 1949) is an East Timorese politician. He has been the president of East Timor since 2022, having previously also held the position from 20 May 2007 to 20 May 2012. Previously he was Mini ...

East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

and

Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The convoy included Frances D’ Souza from Article 19, political activist Bruce Kent, members of British socialist parties and was advised by the pro-Kurdish

People's Democracy Party People's Democracy Party (, HADEP) was a Kurdish political party in Turkey. Murat Bozlak founded the party on 11 May 1994. The party disbanded in 2003. History Bozlak's first chairmanship Party founder and attorney Murat Bozlak was the part ...

(HADEP).

Preparation

Ten railway cars were chartered for the several hundred passengers who had agreed to ride the Peace Train. Rallies and press conferences were planned in cities along the route of the Peace Train, including in the capitals of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and Bulgaria. In Istanbul the train would be transported by ferry across the

Bosphorus The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait ( ; , colloquially ) is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental bo ...

to the Asian part of

. José Ramos-Horta and the son of Musa Anter addressed crowds that gathered to celebrate the train's departure from Brussels.

Turkish opposition

Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz branded the Musa Anter Peace Train as a campaign for separatism from Turkey and a publicity stunt for the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed ...

(PKK). The Turkish Government tried but failed to compel the Belgian Railway to stop the train. Under diplomatic pressure from Turkey, the German

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

blocked the Peace Train by denying permission to cross the German border. The Bulgarian government followed suit, accepting Turkey's claim that the Peace Train was in league with the PKK. The German government alleged that

had also denied passage for the Peace Train. In response, the German human rights organization Medico International booked flights from European cities to Istanbul for many of the Peace Train volunteers. From Istanbul the journey was to continue to Diyarbakir by bus. The peace train organizers claimed that the train had become a "peace plane". Germany's decision to block the Peace Train stirred protests from supporters, including the author

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A List of Nobel laureates in Literature, Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramat ...

Bus convoy

Buses were organized for the further journey towards Southeast Anatolia passing through

Siverek Siverek (; ; ) is a municipality and district of Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey. Its area is 3,936 km2, and its population is 267,942 (2022). Siverek is in the Şanlıurfa province but is geographically closer to the large city of Diyarbakır (a ...

and

. In Urfa the activists were rounded up by the police and the convoy was denied the entrance to the city of Diyarbakir, where they had planned to participate in a rally for peace in Southeast Anatolia. In Diyarbakır several hundred people expecting the political activists were detained. As the group wanted to reach

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

, it was met with a prohibition to enter the city as well. On the way to Istanbul, the police tried to detain several Kurdish members of the delegation, which lead to a brawl between the authorities and Swiss members trying to prevent the detention. On the 3 September, a prosecutor ordered the expulsion of the Swiss delegation. Arriving in Istanbul on 2 September 1997, many of the convoy members had to look for a new hotel as their hotel bookings were canceled on short notice. On the 3 September, a prosecutor ordered the expulsion of the Swiss members of the convoy, who tried to defend the Kurdish delegation. The remainder of the convoy was put under house arrest in the MiM hotel. A press conference which was announced for the 3 September at the

Pera Palace Hotel The Pera Palace Hotel () is a historic special category hotel and museum hotel located in the Beyoğlu (Pera) district in Istanbul, Turkey. It was built in 1892 for the purpose of hosting the passengers of the Orient Express and was named aft ...

, was prohibited by the Municipality of Istanbul with the police having cordoned off the surroundings of the hotel.

Aftermath

Twenty-one members of the convoy arriving in Istanbul were briefly detained at the MiM Hotel in Istanbul. Turkish citizen Akin Birdal and others were detained or investigated for taking part in the peace train. In December 1997 Birdal was acquitted of charges relating to his support for the Peace Train. The photographer Julia Guest organized an exhibition on the Peace Train's journey in December 1997.{{Cite web, title=www.haroldpinter.org - Turkey and The Kurds, url=http://www.haroldpinter.org/politics/politics_kurds.shtml, access-date=2021-12-07, website=www.haroldpinter.org

References

Kurdish–Turkish peace process