Kazakhstan Renames Capital, Extends Presidential Term

Istanbul was Constantinople, and Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan was once Astana — and is Astana once again.

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Kazakhstani President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed into law Saturday a number of amendments, including reverting the name of the country’s capital.

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The name had been changed to Nur-Sultan in 2019 to honor the first president of post-Soviet Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who ruled from 1991 to 2019.

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Since then, relations between President Tokayev and former President Nazarbayev have soured, and the country was wracked by violence in January as protesters decried both fuel prices and the country’s ossified political scene.

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Mr. Nazarbayev was removed from his remaining political positions in the country after the January unrest.

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