ANKARA, Aug 4 (AFP) - Legislators from Turkey`s governing party on Wednesday blocked a move by the opposition to censure the transport minister over a train accident last month in which 37 were killed.
In an extraordinary parliamentary session, members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), who dominate the 550-member assembly, voted down a proposal by the main opposition Republican People`s Party (CHP) to debate a censure motion against Transport Minister Binali Yildirim.
Of the 492 MPs present, 320 voted against the proposal, while 171 backed it and one abstained, deputy parliament speaker Ismail Alptekin said.
The CHP had recalled the parliament from summer recess to debate the July 22 accident, in which a newly-inaugurated fast train derailed in Turkey`s northwest, killing 37 people and injuring 80 others.
The government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has come under fire for launching the project despite warnings from experts that the country`s aging tracks would not withstand high speed trains.
"This is not a technical and scientific project, this is a political project imposed from above, ignoring all the requirements of science," CHP leader Deniz Baykal told the assembly.
"People who bear responsibility should immediately vacate their posts... The (transport) minister should step down without waiting for anything else if he values human life at all," he added.
Baykal also accused the authorities or repairing the tracks immediately after the accident in a deliberate bid to cover-up clues as to the cause of the crash.
Yildirim defended the project and accused the opposition of seeking to score political points from an accident.
Experts are yet to issue their reports on the cause of the disaster.
The head of the train crew and the two drivers were detained on charges of negligence after Yildirim said the train had exceeded the speed limit at the crash site, an argument disputed by lawyers representing the drivers and trade unions.