Sources: KazInform (Astana) and Kazakhstan public holidays (qppstudio.net). Earlier today, the plenary session of the Kazakh Senate adopted an amendment to the Kazakh law “On holidays in the Republic of Kazakhstan” to establish a new state holiday “Day of the Capital” on July 6.According to the authors of this bill, “the new state holiday is called to symbolize our people’s achievements in the contemporary history of Kazakhstan, connected with the gaining of independence and transfer of the new capital to the geographic centre of the country”.
The current capital was selected as replacement for the historical capital of Almaty, by long-ruling president Nursultan Nazarbayev who initiated the move of the capital from Almaty to Akmola, and, later, had it renamed to Astana (”the capital” in Kazakh). In a recent rush of sycophantic fervor, a number of MPs are now trying to rename the capital city from Astana to Nursultan, in honor of the President.
Update (24-june-2008): Our Q++ Team member in Kazakhstan has obtained official confirmation that this new holiday would be a non-working day, and that as this new holiday falls on a Sunday, this year, a day in lieu will be given on Monday, July 7, 2008.
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