Kazakh MFA: Data on almost 2,000 Kazakhstanis banned from entering Turkey inaccurate

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan has commented on a recent report that Turkey put almost 2,000 citizens of Kazakhstan on the no-entry list due to being affiliated with terrorism, Kazinform reports.

Anuar Zhainakov, spokesman of the ministry, said on the margins of the Government session on Tuesday the reports that had appeared in mass media earlier are somewhat incorrect.

"Today our colleagues from the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Turkey stated that the reports that had appeared in mass media are somewhat incorrect... According to our sources, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey published a book called "Turkey's Fight against DEASH" . It tells about the measures Turkish authorities use to fight this terrorist organization," Mr Zhainakov stressed.

According to him, the book contains statistics on the number of nationals of various countries who were detained in 2011-2017 on charges or on suspicion of being affiliated with this terrorist organization.

"Those include nationals of Kazakhstan, Russia, France, Saudi Arabia and other countries. Many of them must have already returned," Zhainakov added.

As a reminder, the international terrorism organization DAESH (or ISIS) is banned in Kazakhstan.