Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan Latif Gandilov suggested to the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev to rename its capital Astana into Sultan-Ata ("Father Sultan"), Interfax-Azerbaijan reported.
The diplomat also explained the logic behind this move to a local newspaper:
If you remember, the president said that friends called him Sultan when [he was] a child. And we all know that His Excellency Nursultan Nazarbayev considers Astana his child. So why not name this city after him?
Besides, he said that it "would be logical to give the city a new name, which also would be consistent with the name of the former capital Kazakhstan - Alma-Ata."
Kazakhstan has moved its capital from Alma-Ata to completely rebuilt city of Akmola and renamed it Astana back in 1997. "Astana" means "the capital city" in Kazakh language.
