The new president of Kazakhstan renamed Astana to Nur-Sultan: residents protest

The new president of Kazakhstan, Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev, signed a decree on renaming the capital Astana to Nur-Sultan in honor of the former President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who resigned on March 19.

Фото: Depositphotos

The decree was published on the website of the head of state. The decree comes into force on the day of its publication, writes Present Tense.

On March 20, the Kazakh parliament immediately in two readings voted to rename Astana Nur-Sultan. This was the proposal of the new president, Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev, who took office on March 20.

The government proposed to submit the question to a referendum. However, the new president Tokayev said that there is no need for that.

This is already the second renaming of the city in the last 25 years (Tselinograd was renamed Akmola, and Akmola was renamed Astana in 1998 in the year).

Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev became the second president of Kazakhstan. He will hold office until the end of his term in 2020, after which a new vote will be held.

Among potential candidates for the presidency of Kazakhstan, experts call the daughter of Nazarbayev Dariga.

Dariga Nazarbayeva March 20 was elected speaker of the country's parliament. Her candidacy was put forward by the new president, Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev. The post of speaker of parliament was previously held by Tokayev himself, but after Nazarbayev’s departure, according to the Constitution, he was given presidential powers.

Recall that March 19, speaking with an appeal to the people of Kazakhstan, President Nursultan Nazarbayev said he decided to resign. He has served as President of Kazakhstan since 1990. This is the first Central Asian leader in the post-Soviet space, who leaves the post of his own free will, that is, not as a result of revolution, and not because of death.

Against Nur-Sultan: Do They Want to Change in Kazakhstan?

In Astana, Almaty and Shymkent, dozens of participants in rallies against the renaming of the capital in honor of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev were arrested - just a few days after his unexpected resignation, writes Air force.

The police acted quite harshly, while eyewitnesses say that people - at least in Astana - behaved peacefully.

The appointment of the daughter of the first president of Kazakhstan, Dariga Nazarbayeva, as the speaker of the senate of Kazakhstan, caused no less resonance.

Photo: Air Force video screenshot

As a BBC correspondent in Astana reports, people came to the rallies spontaneously, unexpectedly, and stated that they did not want the city to be renamed in honor of Nazarbayev. People showed their protest in different ways - some brought posters, others expressed demands. There were also protests against social policy.

According to the journalist, protests of this kind on various occasions occur once in the 2-3 of the month, initially they were organized via Facebook by a banned organization in the country headed by Nazarbayev’s opponents. The organization called on ordinary people to go to the protests, but these meetings were not led by politicians or activists.

Photo: Air Force video screenshot

What will happen to the detainees? Usually they are kept no more than 3 hours, in rare cases, longer. They judge the most active, mostly administrative arrests. As a rule, dozens of people are taken away and then released, the correspondent reports.

Could the renaming be a distraction from the attempt to appoint Nazarbayev's daughter to an important position? Correspondents say that such disputes about renaming are not the first time in the country, outrages arise regularly, and in this case the local media do not see any special differences from what has already happened.

Photo: Air Force video screenshot

When Nursultan Nazarbayev finally leaves the political horizon, correspondents say, the political fate of his daughter may be vague - a significant part of Kazakh society does not support her. So far, the issue with the appointment of Nazarbayeva, as well as with the future fate of Tokayev himself, has not been finally resolved.

In Kazakhstan, there are strong sentiments associated with change. Many waited for them after Nazarbayev’s resignation, but when the next day his exaltation began and the elements of the personality cult appeared, people again became disillusioned and began to realize that serious reforming was unlikely to happen in this country. From any successor will be expected deep, not superficial changes, the local Air Force correspondent notes.

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