Kazakhstan wants to rename the Capital after President

Kazakh legislators proposed renaming the country’s capital after President Nursultan Nazarbayev in honor of his contributions as head of state for the past 25 years.

Report informs citing TASS, a group of MPs has made a relevant draft law.

The draft on the 25th anniversary of Kazakhstan’s independence, also, proposes to change name of Astana, Report.az reports.

“We propose to envisage the works carried out by the first president of our country, nation’s leader Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev in the constitution, name the capital and other facilities in our country after Elbasi,” MP the Lower House of the Kazakh Parliament, Kuanysh Sultanov said.

RFERL/RL reported that Astana has been renamed several times since it was founded in 1830 as the settlement of Akmoly. Two years later it became the town of Akmolinsk. Under communism it was renamed Tselinograd in 1961, then, shortly after Kazakhstan gained independence, to Akmola in 1992.

In December 1997, the Kazakh government made the city the capital of the country, replacing Almaty. In May 1998 the government renamed it Astana, a Kazakh word that means “the capital.”

Notably, on December 16, Kazakhstan will mark 25th anniversary of its independence.