Viewpoint | Why does Kazakhstan change the name of the capital Nur Sudan back to the old known as "Astana"?

▲ Kazakhstan's first President Nazarbayev (left) and the current President Toccyev.

On September 16, the Kazakhstan Council held a joint meeting to review and passed the constitutional amendment. In this constitutional amendment this time, in addition to adjusting the presidential term to 7 years and not being re -elected, there is also a specifically attracted the attention of Kazakhstan society. It was called "Astana".

Tocaev was changed to the old name of the capital in accordance with the public opinion

Astana can be described as a city with the first President Nazarbayev. In order to reflect the merits of Nazarbayev's development of the capital, people have determined Nazarbayev's birthday as the capital day on July 6, and a grand celebration is held every year. In March 2019, Nazarbayev took the initiative to resign and handed the regime to the current President Toccyev. To recognize the great achievements of the first president of the capital and the country's development, Takayev immediately released the presidential order, announcing that the capital was renamed Nazarbayev's name Nur Sudan.

However, with the decline in the price of international energy raw materials such as petroleum, Kazakhstan's economic and social development has also been sleepy in recent years. In 2020, the new crown epidemic fastened Harbin's socio -economic again. In Nazarbayev's years of administration, there are some obvious corruption phenomena in the bureaucratic system. Kazakhstan also formed some economic oligopoly forces, which has led to the increasingly obvious gap between the rich and the poor in the society. With the increasing difficulty of work and life, the public's dissatisfaction with Nazarbayev has increased, and there are greater opposition to the capital renamed Nur Sudan.

In early 2022, serious social riots broke out in Kazakhstan, and some places in some places even pushed down the statue of Nazarbayev. Since then, the people have asked the capital to return to Astana's old name. In this case, President Tocaev can only follow the public opinion, and recently added the proposal to renamed the capital in the constitutional amendment proposal. The Kazakhstan Parliament soon passed the president's constitutional amendment proposal, and the name of the capital was restored to Asana again. The capital of the capital and social changes was renamed history, and finally came to an end.

The world's second cold capital original meaning "White Grave Land"

The capital of Kazakhstan is located on the banks of the Ichim River in northern Kazakhstan. It is the second cold capital in the world (the coldest capital is Mongolian capital Ulanbato). It has been renamed several times in history. Historical changes.

In 1832, Cossack of the Tsarist Russia established a fortress on the barren land on the banks of the Ichim River. The climate and natural conditions here are harsh. In winter, it is more than half a year. In winter, the cold and storm are raging. As a result, it is named Akmolinusk- "Akmolin (La)" means "white grave" in Kazakh. In the early days of Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union, it became an exile of criminals due to a harsh living environment. In 1961, in Khrushchev's active promotion of the Soviet agricultural reform, Akmolinsk was reclaimed by the barren land, and then renamed Catalinogrer, "the city of virgin land" in Russian.

▲ Astana City scene.

Nazarbayev insisted on moving the capital to improve the development of the northern Harbin area

At the end of 1991, Kazakhstan became an independent country. In order to reflect the sovereignty, in 1992, Kazakhstan changed its renamed Catalonor as the historic Akmora.

After the independence of Kazakhstan, due to the limited development space of Almaty, the original capital, and severe Russianization in the northern region, the first President Nazarbayev was determined to move the capital to Akmora in the north. On July 6, 1994, Nazarbayev used his birthday to use his own prestige to "coax" the decision to "coax" the decision to relocate the capital to Akmora. At that time, Kazakhstan hadn't stepped out of the economic and social development dilemma after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. No one believed that Nazarbayev would really relocate the capital from the warm and prosperous Alamu to Akmora, a small town of bitter cold. Just treat this as the whimsical of the president.

However, it was surprising that then Nazarbayev really flew to Akmora and began to inspect and design the new capital in person. In 1997, Nazarbayev issued a presidential order announced that Akmora was the capital and officially opened the capital relocation; in 1998, Akmora changed its name to Astana (Kazakh as the "capital" The meaning). Since then, as the world's oil prices have risen, the economic development of Kazakhstan has become more prosperous. Under the firm will of Nazarbayev, New Capital Astana's continuous development and growth have driven the economic and social development of the desolate Kazakhstan region, which has greatly changed the political, economic, social, and population of Kazakhstan development trend.

If you have the opportunity to examine Astana, you will find that today's Astana has a new building with different shapes and imagination, and the bridge across the Ehim River is beautiful. A newly -built residential community is neat and comfortable, and the lined parks are all over the convenience and leisure facilities. Today, Astana has developed into one of the only three major cities in Kazakhstan's only one million population, becoming the real political and economic and cultural center of Kazakhstan, and becoming a rare vibrant full of vitality in Central Asia and even the CIS areas. New city.

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Author: Gong Yanhua (Deputy Researcher, Dr.)

Edit: Liu Chang

Editor in charge: Song Yan

Picture: Visual China, Russian Satellite Network

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