Kazakhstan Capital Nur-Sultan Reverts to Former Name of Astana

(Bloomberg) -- 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 lawmakers to return Nur-Sultan to its former name of Astana, presidential spokesman Ruslan Zhildibay wrote on Facebook 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 to +35 degrees Celsius (-31 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit).

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 spiraled into riots that killed at least 230 people and left hundreds injured after Tokayev ordered security forces to shoot protesters.

Following the unrest, Tokayev ousted Nazarbayev as head of the Kazakh security council, then sidelined key allies of the first president. In September, he announced snap presidential elections for this fall and said he’ll extend the term to seven years while limiting the head of state to a single period in office.

Other places named after Nazarbayev will not be changed, in honor of the former leader’s historic role in the country, Zhildibay said. The capital’s airport and a university carry his name.

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