Kazakhs discuss renaming capital Astana again

Nursultan, Sep 15 (EFE).- Kazakh lawmakers have initiated procedures to change the name of the country’s capital, Nursultan, back to Astana.

The initiative received the approval of the capital’s city council on Thursday during an extraordinary meeting.

“The decision of council members coincides with the yearnings of Kazakhs,” said the secretary of Nur-Sultan’s legislative body, Erlan Kanalimov.

According to Kanalimov, polls in social media have shown that 80% of the capital’s residents want a return to the former name.

After the decision is approved by the capital’s lawmakers, it will be studied by a commission appointed by the Kazakh president’s office.

It will then be reviewed by the government and the proposal will be submitted to the Kazakh president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

The name of the capital will be officially changed after the publication of a presidential decree.

Astana was renamed Nursultan in 2019 as a tribute to the first Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev.

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