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Kazakhstan’s president signs decree to rename capital city to Astana

The decree is effective starting from the day of its first official publication

View of Astana Valery Sharifulin/TASS

View of Astana

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

ASTANA, September 17. /TASS/. Kazakhstan’s president on Saturday signed a decree to rename the country’s capital Nur-Sultan to Astana, the presidential press service has said.

The decree is effective starting from the day of its first official publication.

Earlier, on September 17, Tokayev signed a law amending the Constitution to restore the capital’s previous name Astana. In addition, according to the latest amendments to the fundamental law, the term of office of the head of state is limited to one seven-year period without the right to re-election.

In 1997, Kazakhstan’s first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, moved the capital from Almaty to the city of Akmola, which was renamed Astana in 1998. On March 23, 2019, the current head of state, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, signed a decree renaming Astana to the city of Nur-Sultan in Nazarbayev’s honor. Capital Day - July 6 - is celebrated in Kazakhstan as a public holiday.

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