Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a decree on renaming Astana to Nur-Sultan, akorda.kz announced March 23.
The decree reads as follows: “In accordance with Article 9 of the Law of Dec. 8 1993 ‘On the administrative and territorial structure of the Republic of Kazakhstan’ I decree:
1. To rename the city of Astana – the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the city of Nur-Sultan – the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
2. This decree comes into force on the day of its first official publication”
Tokayev has also signed amendments to the country’s Constitution.
President Tokayev suggested renaming Astana as Nur-Sultan to perpetuate the name of the First President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, March 20 immediately after he took the oath of office at the joint session of the Kazakh Parliament.
“It is necessary to immortalise the name of our great contemporary, the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Our capital should bear the name of our President and be called Nur-Sultan. I would like to add that this proposal was already expressed by parliamentarians in the declaration adopted Nov. 23, 2016 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan,” he said.
The Kazakh government proposed the President to hold a national referendum to amend the Constitution to rename the capital. President Tokayev submitted to the Parliament a proposal to change the name without a referendum. The Constitutional Council had a positive conclusion on the proposed change. As a result, the Parliament approved the renaming of Astana to Nur-Sultan.
At the same joint session, Tokayev also proposed renaming main streets in Kazakhstan’s regional capitals in Nazarbayev’s honour and erecting a monument in his honour in the capital. In addition to this, Tokayev proposed granting the former president the status of an honorary senator and preserving his photographs in offices, buildings and educational institutions.
By Aidana Yergaliyeva for the Astana Times.
