Nur-Sultan City Council Approves Change Of Kazakh Capital Back To Astana.

A view of the city's Bayterek Tower, built in 2002 and measuring 105 meters in height, a landmark of the city, from Nurjol Boulevard.

NUR-SULTAN -- Lawmakers in Kazakhstan's capital have approved a proposal to change the name of the city back to Astana from Nur-Sultan as part of President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev's campaign to create "a new Kazakhstan."

Members of the city council voted unanimously on September 15 to return the capital to its former name. Toqaev changed the name to Nur-Sultan in 2019 in honor of his predecessor and the country's first president, Nursultan Nazarbaev.
The decision now must now be approved by the state naming commission, after which it will go to the government, which will outline a draft decree for Toqaev's review and signature. Toqaev, who has been distancing himself from his predecessor, has already said he agrees with the name change. Presidential spokesman Ruslan Zheldibai said on September 13 that the move will be added to a bill of amendments to the constitution currently under preparation. On September 2, members of the New Kazakhstan parliamentary group proposed changing the current name of the capital to its former name.

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.
While he officially stepped down as 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 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 enriched themselves while ordinary citizens failed to share in the oil-rich Central Asian country's wealth. Toqaev subsequently stripped Nazarbaev of his Security Council role, taking it over himself. Since then, several of Nazarbaev's relatives and allies have been pushed out of their positions or resigned. Some have been arrested on corruption charges. In June this year, a Toqaev-initiated referendum removed Nazarbaev's name from the constitution and annulled his status as elbasy. Kazakh critics say Toqaev's initiatives were mainly cosmetic and don't change the nature of the autocratic system in a country that has been plagued for years by rampant corruption and nepotism.