Kazakh leader Nazarbayev Resigns after 3 decades in Power
Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev unexpectedly resigned on Tuesday after three decades in power, according to reports.
Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev unexpectedly resigned on Tuesday after three decades in power, according to reports.
“I have taken a decision, which was not easy for me, to resign as president,” Nazarbayev said in a nationwide TV address, flanked by his country’s blue and yellow flags, before signing a decree terminating his powers from March 20.
“As the founder of the independent Kazakh state I see my task now in facilitating the rise of a new generation of leaders who will continue the reforms that are under way in the country.”
According to Reuters, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, speaker of the upper house of parliament, will take over as Kazakhstan’s acting president for the remainder of his term in line with the constitution.
Known as “Papa” to many Kazakhs, the 78-year-old former steel worker and Communist party apparatchik has ruled the vast oil and gas-rich Central Asian nation since 1989, when it was still part of the Soviet Union.
Bestowed by parliament with the official title of “The Leader of the Nation”, he was the last Soviet-era leader still in office and oversaw extensive market reforms while remaining widely popular in his country of 18 million people.
The Kremlin said Nazarbayev and Vladimir Putin had spoken by phone earlier on Tuesday, but declined to disclose the content of their conversation.
