[1][2] The original plan was for a chartered train to leave Brussels, Belgium on 26 August 1997 and arrive in Diyarbakır, Turkey on 1 September.
Among the supporters of the campaign were Nobel Peace prize laureates José Ramos-Horta of East Timor[4] and Desmond Tutu of South Africa.
[4][5][6] Rallies and press conferences were planned in cities along the route of the Peace Train, including in the capitals of Austria, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Bulgaria.
[4] Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz branded the Musa Anter Peace Train as a campaign for separatism from Turkey[6] and a publicity stunt for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
[9] In response, the German human rights organization Medico International booked flights from European cities to Istanbul for many of the Peace Train volunteers.
[4] Germany's decision to block the Peace Train stirred protests from supporters, including the author Harold Pinter.
[1] 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.