Musa Anter peace train

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Musa Anter Peace Train was a failed campaign for a peaceful solution for the Turkish Kurdish conflict organized by the German Hannover Appell. A chartered train should have started from Brussels, Belgium on the 26 August and arrived in Diyarbakır, Turkey on the 1 September 1997. But in an diplomatic success for the Turkish Government, several European countries did not allow the train to cross their territory. The political activists then bought plane tickets to Istanbul from where they attempted to reach to Diyarbakir by Bus. The convoy returned to Istanbul after having reached Urfa in southeast Turkey where they were told that the entrance to Diyarbakir would be prohibited. Participants of the Peace Train were several European and African Members of Parliaments. Prominent supporters of the campaign where the Nobel Peace prize awardee José Ramos-Horta of East Timor[1] Desmond Tutu from South Africa, and several British parliamentarians.[2] The train was called after the Kurdish poet and writer Musa Anter.[3][4]

Preparation[]

The train was called after the Kurdish poet and writer Musa Anter.[3][4] Ramos-Horta and the son of Musa Anter addressed the crowds in Brussels.[1] For ten wagons long chartered Peace Train, several hundred participants were announced.[5][1][2] During the journey, stops were to be held in several cities in Germany, and European capitals of Austria, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Bulgaria.[2] In Istanbul the train was planned to be transported by ferry over the Bosphorus to the asian part of Turkey. In several cities on the journey the participants have organized rallies and press conferences.[5]

Turkish opposition[]

After the Turkish Government failed to compel the Belgian Railway to deny the trains departure,[5] the train was denied passage through Germany by the German Ministry of the Interior headed by Manfred Kanther.[3] The Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz branded the campaign a support for separatism from Turkey.[2] The German government alleged the prohibition of Yugoslavia for the passage.[6] Bulgaria followed suit and also refused the transit of the Peace Train through its territory, following the argument of the Turks that the peace train was a publicity stunt from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).[7] Against the decision of Germany protested a variety of sympathizers with the peace train like Harold Pinter.[8] Subsequently, the NGO Medico International managed to book flights for many of the participants of the peace train from several cities in Europe to Istanbul from where the journey shall have proceeded by bus.[3] The peace train organizers claimed that the train had become a "peace plane".[1]

Bus convoy[]

Buses were organized for the further journey towards Southeast Anatolia passing through Siverek and Urfa.[3] In Urfa the activists were rounded up by the police and the convoy was denied the entrance to the city of Diyarbakir,[7] where they had planned to participate in a rally for peace in Southeast Anatolia.[4] In Diyarbakır several hundred people expecting the political activists were detained.[9] As the group wanted to reach Ankara, it was met with a prohibition to enter the city as well.[7] 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.[7]

Aftermath[]

Twenty-one members of the convoy arriving in Istanbul were shortly detained at the MiM Hotel in Istanbul.[7] Akin Birdal and others were investigated or detained for taking part in the peace train.[4] In December the same year Birdal was acquitted from the charges relating to his support for the peace train initiative.[10] The photographer Julia Guest organized an exhibition on the peace trains journey in December 1997.[11]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d "Belgium: European Peace Train journey to Kurdistan is cancelled". www.aparchive.com. 26 August 1997. Retrieved 2021-12-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ a b c d Bowcott, Owen (25 August 1997). "Kurdish Peace Train hits the buffers in Bonn". The Guardian.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Old wine into new wineskins?". Firat News Agency. 15 June 2021. Retrieved 2021-12-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ a b c d "U.S. Department of State - Turkey Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1997". US State Department. 1997. Retrieved 9 December 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ a b c Paul, Reimar (1997-08-19). "Ein Sonderzug ins kurdische Diyarbakir". Die Tageszeitung (in German). p. 7. ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2021-12-08.
  6. ^ "Kleine Anfrage der Abgeordneten Ulla Jelpke und der Gruppe der PDS: Untersagung der Einreise für ausländische Reisende des "Europäischen Friedenszuges MUSA ANTER" durch den Bundesminister des Innern" (PDF). Bundestag. 5 September 1997. Retrieved 8 December 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ a b c d e "Peace Train derailed". Insight Turkey. 9 October 1997. p. 32–34. Retrieved 2021-12-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ Prentice, Penelope (2000). The Pinter Ethic: The Erotic Aesthetic. Psychology Press. pp. xcii. ISBN 978-0-8153-3886-4.
  9. ^ Koivunen, Kristiina (2002). The Invisible War in North Kurdistan (PDF). p. 71. ISBN 952-10-0644-7.
  10. ^ Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Report Submitted to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives and Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate by the Department of State in Accordance with Sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as Amended. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1998. p. 1347.
  11. ^ "www.haroldpinter.org - Turkey and The Kurds". www.haroldpinter.org. Retrieved 2021-12-07.
Retrieved from ""