In March, Kazakhstan interim president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took over as leader after longtime President Nursultan Nazarbaev unexpectedly resigned. To many, this came as a surprise. Known as “Papa” to many Kazakhs, the 78-year-old former steel worker and Communist party apparatchik, Nazarbaev has ruled the vast oil and gas-rich nation since 1989, when it was still part of the Soviet Union.