23 March 2019, Kazachstan: Kazakh interim President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s behest to rename his homeland’s capital from Astana to Nur-Sultan, honouring the country’s hitherto only president, was swiftly approved by parliament and is now official.
Nur-Sultan had replaced Almaty as the republic’s capital back in 1997, and has boomed from a minor provincial steppe town into a futuristic city. The former appellation Astana literally means “capital” in Kazakh; there has long been speculation that it could, at some point, be renamed after the leader who shaped it.
President emeritus Nursultan Nazarbayev was at the helm of the country for nearly 30 years, first when it was still part of the Soviet Union and subsequently as the first president of an independent Kazakhstan.
Whereas President Nazarbayev stepped down from the headship of state, he does retain key executive powers in his capacity as chairman of the Security Council as well as head of the ruling Nur Otan party. President Nazarbayev’s decades-long rule transformed Kazakhstan into an energy powerhouse
Interim President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, is a career diplomat who had served as Senate speaker, shall complete the remainder of President Nazarbayev’s term ahead of scheduled elections in 2020.
For further information:
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kassym-Jomart_Tokayev
