Kazakh President calls upon all religions of Eurasia to adopt a charter on peace and accord

The President of Kazakhstan has called upon all the religions of Eurasia to adopt a Eurasian charter of inter-confessional peace and accord. Nursultan Nazarbayev said this speaking at a meeting of the Assembly of the Peoples of Kazakhstan in Astana on Friday. He noted that Kazakhstan is ready to become the venue for a meeting of all religious leaders.

The President of Kazakhstan said that "one cannot fail to see inter-confessional tension in many countries and societies" and expressed concern that such mediaeval notions as 'jihad" and "crusades" have appeared in the modern political vocabulary. The President believes that the notion of fundamentalism is a major feature of not only of the Islamic religion.

"Not only in Islam, but also in other religions there have begun to appear conceptions and doctrines of political parties and movements which are taken up by some extremists, and are also used by terrorists," said Nazarbayev. He noted at the same time that there was a "unique inter-confessional situation" in Kazakhstan.

President Nazarbayev said that 3,000 religious associations of 40 denominations peacefully coexist in the country. The head of Kazakhstan noted that steps have been taken in the country to "prevent the politicization of religious factors."