Kazakhstan

Capital idea for a present

Jun 12th 2008 | ALMATY From The Economist print edition

Aw shucks, you shouldn't have...I couldn't possibly accept

Illustration by Claudio Munoz WHAT do you give a man who has everything, or at least the seemingly permanent presidency of a big Central Asian republic? You rename its capital in his honour, of course. That is how Sat Tokpakbayev, a member of the one-party parliament and former Kazakhstani defence minister, wanted to mark the 68th birthday next month of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. In suggesting in parliament that Astana change its name to Nursultan, Mr Tokpakbayev achieved the near-impossible: distinguishing himself for sycophancy from the mass of other well-wishers, not least those in parliament. His proposal was at once enthusiastically endorsed by an estimated 90% of the deputies. (The others, all also members of the president's party, Nur-Otan, must be ruing their absence that day.) Mr Tokpakbayev and his supporters point to precedents. Russia has St Petersburg, named after Peter the Great's patron saint, America has Washington, neighbouring Turkmenistan has the Caspian port of Turkmenbashi, named for its late dictator. But Kazakhstan's opposition newspapers scoffed. Respublika, a weekly, recommended that the circus clowns take a holiday so the parliamentarians could take their place.

With Kazakhstan facing an economic slowdown and galloping inflation, many observers wondered whether parliament might not find more urgent topics to discuss. But Mr Nazarbayev has turned down parliament's petition. The decision to change the name will be made by another generation, he said. This has given rise to speculation that the suggestion was merely intended to burnish the image of a man not known for self-effacing modesty. Be that as it may, Astana, which will celebrate its tenth anniversary as Kazakhstan's capital next month, is used to name changes. It has been called Akmolinsk, Tselinograd and Akmola. Mr Nazarbayev himself renamed it Astana (capital). A more fitting gift might have been to rename the presidency: the Nursultanate, perhaps?