Monument to President unveiled in Almaty

    A monument with a larger-than-life statue of President Nursultan Nazarbayev has been unveiled in Almaty, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.
    Scores of people, including Nazarbayev's eldest daughter Darigha Nazarbayeva, attended a ceremony in the Park of the First President in Almaty, the country's largest city.
    The idea for the monument was initiated and financed by urban-planners union head Lyubov Nysynbaeva, architects union chief Akmyrza Rustembekov, designers union head Timur Suleymenov, and artists union chief Baitursyn Umorbekov.
    Almaty Akim Akhmetzhan Yesimov said at the event that, "the heads of the (world's) leading states have recognized Nazarbayev as an outstanding politician on a global scale, (as someone) who made enormous contributions to nuclear disarmament, Asian security, and integration."
    Nazarbayev, 71, has ruled Kazakhstan since 1991, and has had the constitution altered to allow him to serve as many terms as he wishes.
    World War II veteran and honorary Almaty citizen Sultan Zhienbaev compared Nazarbayev with 18^th century Russian leader Peter the Great and praised Nazarbayev for having established Kazakhstan's capital city, Astana, in the desert.
    Senator Kuanysh Sultanov said that 20 years ago, world leaders hardly knew "what Kazakhstan is and who Kazakhs are," and that Nazarbayev had raised the country's international prestige.
    Nysynbaeva said Nazarbayev succeeded in "uniting the multinational people of Kazakhstan" and developing its national culture and language.
    A statue of a seated Nazarbayev became a central part of a monumental sculpture called, "Kazakhstan" that is replete with eagle wings behind him stylized with the Almaty and Astana city symbols. There are also two quotations from Nazarbayev engraved on the wings. RFE/RL.