ISTANBUL - Turkish State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said on Wednesday that he supposed the censure motion against Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim would be rejected.
Asked what Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) stance towards the censure motion would be, Sahin said, ''at the moment, there is not any report that holds the Transportation Minister personally responsible for the train derailment. So I suppose that in today's vote in the parliament, the motion would be rejected.''
Turkish parliament will convene in an extraordinary session today (today at 3 p.m.-local) to discuss the censure motion tabled against Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim.
Republican People's Party (CHP) tabled the censure motion on charges that Yildirim was responsible for the train derailment near Pamukova town of northwestern province of Sakarya on July 22, killing 38 people and injuring 80 others.
The session will open at 3 p.m. and will go on if at least 184 parliamentarians attend the session. In this case, a vote will be held on the fate of the censure motion. If the motion is rejected, the parliament's summer recess will resume. If a decision is taken to open a general debate on the censure motion, it then will be included in the working agenda (of the parliament) and a date for the debate will be set. Discussions on a motion is usually held between the 2nd and 7th day, after the initial vote.
(MS-ULG) 04.08.2004