Ten railway cars were chartered for the several hundred passengers who had agreed to ride the Peace Train.[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.[5] In Istanbul the train would be transported by ferry across the Bosphorus to the Asian part of Turkey.[5][6] José Ramos-Horta and the son of Musa Anter addressed crowds that gathered to celebrate the train's departure from Brussels.[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).[7][8] The Turkish Government tried but failed to compel the Belgian Railway to stop the train.[5]
Under diplomatic pressure from Turkey, the German Ministry of the Interior blocked the Peace Train by denying permission to cross the German border.[1] The Bulgarian government followed suit, accepting Turkey's claim that the Peace Train was in league with the PKK.[7] The German government alleged that Yugoslavia had also denied passage for the Peace Train.[9]
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.[1] The peace train organizers claimed that the train had become a "peace plane".[4] Germany's decision to block the Peace Train stirred protests from supporters, including the author Harold Pinter.[10]
Buses were organized for the further journey towards Southeast Anatolia passing through Siverek and Urfa.[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.[2] In Diyarbakır several hundred people expecting the political activists were detained.[11]
As the group wanted to reach Ankara, it was met with a prohibition to enter the city as well.[7] 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.[8] On the 3 September, a prosecutor ordered the expulsion of the Swiss delegation.[8] 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] On the 3 September, a prosecutor ordered the expulsion of the Swiss members of the convoy, who tried to defend the Kurdish delegation.[8] The remainder of the convoy was put under house arrest in the MiM hotel.[8] A press conference which was announced for the 3 September at the Pera Palace Hotel, was prohibited by the Municipality of Istanbul with the police having cordoned off the surroundings of the hotel.[8]
Twenty-one members of the convoy arriving in Istanbul were briefly detained at the MiM Hotel in Istanbul.[7] Turkish citizen Akin Birdal and others were detained or investigated for taking part in the peace train.[2] In December 1997 Birdal was acquitted of charges relating to his support for the Peace Train.[12]
The photographer Julia Guest organized an exhibition on the Peace Train's journey in December 1997.[13]
Bowcott, Owen (25 August 1997). "Kurdish Peace Train hits the buffers in Bonn". The Guardian.