Kazakhstan-President-Statements
Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry dismissed on Tuesday reports of anti-Iran comments made by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev during a ceremony to mark the 15th anniversary Kazakhstan's independence Friday.

In a statement sent to the Iranian embassy in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, Tuesday, the ministry referred to the reports as "mistakes" and said they "misinterpreted" Nazarbayev's remarks.

"What was said by some media about President Nazarbayev's remarks in his independence day speech alluding to Iran as the center of growing insecurity in Asia was a mistake and contradictory to what he really meant," said the statement.

Some media reports quoted Nazarbayev on Saturday as saying many factors such as the increasingly complicated geo-political situation around Iran, international terrorism, fundamentalism, spread of weapons of mass destruction, illegal migration, and weapons and drugs trafficking were seriously threatening security in the entire Asian region.

Meanwhile, a Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry statement that what President Nazarbayev intended to say was that the unresolved political problems in Afghanistan and Middle East were threatening regional security.

He also said that a very complicated geo-political situation had been created around Iran, added the statement.

The statement said Kazakhstan was keen to be a major political and economic partner of Iran and was interested in promoting its relations with Tehran.

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