In 2022 which country changed the name of its capital from nur sultan back to astana

Just three years after he renamed the capital city after outgoing leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has changed his mind. Tokayev agreed to a proposal by a group of Kazakh legislators to return Nur-Sultan to its former name of Astana, presidential spokesperson Ruslan Zhildibay wrote on Facebook on Tuesday. The change would follow a series of constitutional reforms approved in a June referendum that stripped the long-time ruler of his special “leader for life” status. One of Tokayev’s first acts after he was made Nazarbayev’s successor in 2019 was to change Astana to Nur-Sultan in an act of fealty to the man who ruled Kazakhstan for three decades. Astana, which means capital in Kazakh, is a planned city with a reputation for fanciful modern architecture that has been compared to the Dubai of central Asia. Nazarbayev moved the capital there from Almaty in 1997 and used the resource wealth of the region’s largest energy producer to hire foreign architects to build the city on the Kazakh steppe, where temperatures can range from -35 °C to +35 °C. Tokayev has moved to consolidate power since calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to send troops to help him crush violent protests in January that he called an attempted coup. The most serious challenge to the country’s leadership since independence in 1991 began as opposition to increases in fuel prices and spiralled into riots that killed at least 230 people and left hundreds injured aft...

The city lights at night. Photo credit: hdrshooter.com. The adoption of a package of constitutional amendments, which also include a norm for a single seven-year presidential term, comes just a day after the capital city’s maslikhat (local representative bodies) convened for a public hearing on Sept. 15 and backed the proposal that came a few weeks earlier from a group of the national parliament’s deputies. President Tokayev had agreed to restore the former name of the country’s capital just three years after he proposed to rename it in recognition of the special role of the outgoing president Nursultan Nazarbayev, one of his first moves upon taking office in March 2019 when Nazarbayev unexpectedly stepped down. He also did not object to including this issue in the draft law, according to presidential spokesperson Ruslan Zheldibay. “The President is informed about this initiative by the deputies, who relied on the proposals that have been repeatedly expressed during meetings with the population, as well as in numerous appeals of citizens during the referendum period. The deputies’ proposal was included in the draft Constitutional Law with the consent of the head of state,” said the spokesperson. Zheldibay also explained that it is President Tokayev’s view that other institutions also named after the first president, such as the Nazarbayev University or the Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport, should continue to bear his name in recognition of his contributions to th...

The presidential decree to change the name of Kazakhstan's capital city back to Astana from Nur-Sultan came into force on September 19 after its text was officially published in state media. President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev signed the decree two days earlier in another move to distance himself from his predecessor, Nursultan Nazarbaev. Toqaev first changed the name of the capital from Astana to Nur-Sultan in 2019, one day after Nazarbaev, who had run the tightly controlled former Soviet republic with an iron fist for almost three decades, announced he was resigning and that Toqaev was his handpicked successor. Though he officially stepped down as president, Nazarbaev retained sweeping powers as the head of the country's powerful Security Council. He also enjoyed substantial powers by holding the title of "elbasy" or leader of the nation. Even after Nazarbaev's stepping down, many Kazakhs remained bitter about the oppression felt during his reign. Those feelings came to a head in January when unprecedented antigovernment nationwide protests started over a fuel price hike, and then exploded into countrywide deadly unrest over perceived corruption under the Nazarbaev regime and the cronyism that allowed his family and close friends to enrich themselves while ordinary citizens failed to enjoy any of the oil-rich Central Asian nation's wealth. Toqaev subsequently stripped Nazarbaev of his Security Council role, taking it over himself. Since then, several of Nazarbaev's relatives ...

Recommended • China's Xi visits Kazakhstan ahead of summit with Putin • The war in Ukraine has hit central Asia hard too – but they could be western allies • Voters in Kazakhstan approve constitutional changes “The president is informed about this initiative by deputies, who in turn relied on suggestions repeatedly expressed during meetings with the population, as well as in numerous addresses from citizens during the referendum. “At the same time, the president sees Nursultan Nazarbayev’s decisive role in strengthening the modern statehood of Kazakhstan and the establishment of the capital as a historical fact,” the spokesperson said. “Therefore, other landmarks named after the first president will keep their names.” The name of Kazakhstan itself was nearly changed in 2014 when Nazarbayev suggested it become Kazak Yeli in order to distinguish the country from its “poorer” neighbours in other “stans”. Nazarbayev turned Astana into a showplace of gaudy architecture, including an observation tower where visitors can place their hands in a print of Nazarbayev’s, the Associated Press reported.

ASTANA -- Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev has officially signed legislation to replace the current system of a maximum of two consecutive five-year presidential terms with a single seven-year term and to change the name of the capital back to Astana from Nur-Sultan. The action on September 17 came a day after Kazakhstan’s lower chamber of parliament, the Mazhilis, SEE ALSO: No-Sultan? Kazakhstan Mulls Ousting First President From Capital's Name Toqaev had in 2019 changed the capital's name to Nur-Sultan in honor of his predecessor and the nation’s first president, Nursultan Nazarbaev. But Toqaev has in recent months been attempting to distance himself from his increasingly unpopular predecessor. On September 1, he called for an early presidential election in the coming months in which he will seek a second term, while also proposing an increase in the presidential term from five to seven years. Under the new system, future presidents would be barred from seeking more than one term. Nazarbaev, who had run the tightly controlled former Soviet republic with an iron fist for almost three decades, chose Toqaev as his successor when he stepped down in 2019. Though he was no longer president, Nazarbaev retained sweeping powers as the head of the Security Council. He also enjoyed substantial powers by holding the title of “elbasy,” or leader of the nation. Many citizens, however, remained upset by the oppression felt during Nazarbaev's reign. Those feelings came to a head in...