Produced by Joseph Cooper and commissioned for broadcast by Med TV, a London based satellite TV Channel. 47 min

In the summer of 1997 I went along to a planning meeting held by a group of activists and politicians planning to visit southeast Turkey. I was invited to document the journey. This video of the journey of a group of politicians and peace activists who gathered from around the world to meet in Brussels.

From Brussels the peace train delegates intended to travel to Diyarbakir in southeast Turkey to attend a cultural festival to celebrate International Anti-War day on September 1st 1997. An estimated crowd of 200,000 people were expected to greet the peace train delegates in Diyarbakir.

However, the “Peace Train” delegates encountered a series of obstructions and were finally stopped by a blockade of armoured cars 40 kilometres short of their destination.

The story does not end there…

This documentary highlights the relationship between Turkey and the estimated 12 million Kurds who make up Turkey’s biggest minority.

Since the making of this video in 1997 the Turkish government have drafted legislation to recognise the cultural rights of those who within Turkey who wish to keep their cultural uniqueness such as the Kurds.

However, many feel that the steps taken do not go far enough and these issues are key to negotiations between Turkey and the EU regarding any future accession to the EU by Turkey.

Therefore, even though over ten years old this documentary is still useful in bringing home some of the key issues of Turkish and Kurdish identity to those new to the subject.

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