ANKARA - Turkish Parliament will convene in an emergency meeting on August 4, to discuss a censure motion tabled against Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim.
Republican People's Party (CHP) tabled the motion.
The parliamentarians will vote the same day whether or not to add the censure motion to the agenda. Parliament will go into recess if the MPS reject to include the censure motion into the working agenda.
Explanation paragraph of the censure motion stressed that both the scientists and NGOs had expressed their concerns in their contacts with the officials of Transportation Ministry and Turkish State Railways (TCDD) regarding the high-speed train voyages, unless deficiencies in infrastructure are overcome.
It said scientists made necessary warnings many times, stating that ''despite all the warnings high-speed train journeys started on June 4, 2004.''
The opinion paragraph also said ''Expert Delegation Report'' approving the high-speed train voyages, which Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim based to defend himself, was dated July 13, 2004.
It said Justice and Development Party (AK Party) disregarded the warnings of the scientists and NGOs and started high-speed train service just by a political decision instead of feasibility reports based on scientific criteria.
(AY-ULG) 02.08.2004