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Kazakhstan’s president calls for stopping all military conflicts

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev Yekaterina Shtukina/TASS
Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev
© Yekaterina Shtukina/TASS

ASTANA, June 10. /TASS/. Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev has spoken in favor of stopping all military conflicts at the V Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana on Wednesday.

"It is necessary to cease all military conflicts and announce truce," Nazarbayev said. The Kazakhstani leader called on "all conflicting parties to sit down at the negotiations table and develop an agreement on ceasing violence, defend peaceful citizens, peacefully solve all disagreements." The president stressed that "in any country and interstate relations, force methods of solving any political contradictions should be decisively rejected."

Nazarbayev suggested to include this appeal "which reflects the pain and hopes of billions of people all over the world," into the Congress’ final statement.

The president also said the Council of religious leaders should initiate measures on countering religious extremism and terrorism.

"The collective opinion of religious leaders that hatred, intolerance, cruelty and unjust treatment of neighbours are unacceptable for the true faithful may become a decisive factor for containing any discords and feuds," Nazarbayev said.

The Kazakh leader said that threat of global terrorism and extremism, namely the actions of the Islamic State (IS) militant group, "has switched to a more dangerous stage."

"Under the influence of pseudo religious views, the gunmen deliberately ruin the sites of cultural heritage of millennial civilizations in Iraq and Syria. They organize and show via the Internet the scenes of horrible public executions of adherents of other religions, reporters and volunteers," the president said.

Congress of leaders of world, traditional religions opens in Kazakhstan

The fifth Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions opened in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on Wednesday to focus on the issues of resolving global and regional conflicts.

The event, expected to be attended by 125 delegations from 42 countries, "is devoted to the dialogue of religious leaders and politicians for the sake of peace and development," the Secretariat of the Congress says.

Prior to the congress, the chairman of Kazakhstan’s Senate, the upper house of parliament, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stressed that "religious and political leaders bear special responsibility for the peace and security of peoples."

According to Tokayev, their joint actions may contribute to strengthening stability and security, developing cooperation of states and nations for their prosperity. "The interreligious summit will give a new impetus to this noble mission that the world needs so much," he said.

The discussion at the congress on the role of religion in solving the global and regional conflicts will involve both the religious clerics and politicians.

The participants of the forum are UN chief Ban Ki-moon, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, King of Jordan Abdullah II, OSCE Secretary-General Lamberto Zannier and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General Iyad bin Amin Madani.

The forum’s themes are responsibility of religious and political leaders before the humanity, influence of religion on the youth and new tendencies and prospects of cooperation between religion and politics.

A meeting of the Council of religious leaders, a coordinating body created in 2012, will also be held.