Don’t do that - President urges not to rename streets, monuments in his honor
"Someone wrote a letter to me recently that [Nursultan] Nazarbayev does not need stone monuments as he has already built the capital city. And I absolutely agree with him. All that is vanity," the Head of State said during an interview with Kazakhstan's mass media.
The President again cited the Roman emperor as an example.
"It is Marcus Aurelius, who enlarged the territories of the Roman Empire, conquered many lands. And everyone said ‘why is there no monument to you?' [he replied] ‘I do not want anyone to ask who the monument honors. Let them say after me: why is there no monument to him?' That's great, I like it. I remember him and I keep telling about it all the time. Therefore, I always voice objections to that. The only thing I agreed to is to name the university after me [NU] so that everyone would support it, both the Government and the country," the Yelbasy (Kazakh leader) said.
Nursultan Nazarbayev urged the Kazakh citizens not to rename streets or erect monuments to honor him.
"Everything else is decided by local authorities, and, surely, by my decree, I can disallow them doing it... I am now openly telling all citizens of Kazakhstan: don't do that. (...) One must remain in history by his/her deeds. Not by a long life, not by some monuments, but thanks to actions. I do my best in that respect. And we all know well what happens to monuments over time. Thank you for everything, but don't do that," the Head of State underlined.
Recall, on November 30, Furmanov Street (in Almaty city) was renamed Nazarbayev Street.