Kazakhstan may be renamed to get rid of the 'stan' ending - Nazarbayev

    President Nursultan Nazarbayev said he believes a possible change of the country’s name should be publicly discussed, his statement on his official website Akorda.kz said.
    “Kazakhstan has the “stan” ending like many other nations of Central Asia. Foreigners are showing interest in Mongolia, whose population only stands at 2 million people [compared to almost 17 million in Kazakhstan].
    Mongolia has no “stan” ending in its name. Maybe we should consider renaming Kazakhstan Kazakh Eli [Kazakh version for Kazakh People]; however, such a change must be publicly discussed to know the opinions of the common people,” he said while attending a school in Atyrau.
    He suggested public discussions when responding to writer Rakhimzhan Otarbayev when the latter said most people would embrace the idea of renaming the nation.
    Nazarbayev emphasized Kazakhstan would only achieve all its set goals through maintaining unity and tolerance on part of its people. Our advantage is the nation’s ethnic diversity, he said, according to www.tengrinews.kz.