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EU: Peace train

01 July 1997

Another attempt to publicise the situation in Kurdistan and European governments' collusion with the Turkish authorities was the Musa Anter Peace Train, which planned to travel from Brussels through European countries and Istanbul to Diyarbakir, the "capital" of Turkish Kurdistan, in the last week of August. The train (named after the murdered Kurdish writer) was filled with people from all European countries and all walks of life who condemn Turkish destruction of the Kurdish people, villages, language and culture, and the political incarceration of peaceful Kurdish activists such as Kurdish MP Leyla Zana, lawyers, trade unionists and journalists. All the way along the route solidarity activities were planned, culminating in a festival in Diyarbakir. But the Turkish authorities did not allow the train to enter Turkey, and when delegates boarded coaches instead, these were mercilessly harassed and the progress of the delegates across Turkey was thwarted by security police. Although the train and its occupants did not reach Diyarbakir, the efforts of those trying to draw attention to oppression in Kurdistan were welcomed there. Demonstrations in south-east Turkey protesting against the interference with the Peace Train were violently suppressed. Regrettably, the British press paid very little attention, preferring to devote pages to sensationalist "revelations" of alleged Greek collusion with PKK bomb campaigns.

For more details of the Peace Train, contact Kurdistan Information Centre (KIC), 10
Glasshouse Yard, London EC1A 4JN (Tel: 0171-250 1315).