I've gone into the archives of the tz mailing list to gather what information there is on this question. A flurry of messages went out on the tz mailing list in May and June, 2005 on the subject of Kazakhstan's time zones, when the country announced the end of DST. In 1996, according to a technical publication of the International Air Transport Association, Kazakhstan split into three time zones. Before that time, it had been all UTC+6 with DST. Afterward, Aktau, Atyrau, and Uralsk oblasts (aka Mangghystau, Atyrau, and West Kazakhstan) went to UTC+4, and Aktyubinsk (aka Aqtöbe) went to UTC+5. In 2005, according to a correspondent in Kazakhstan, those four oblasts united on UTC+5, as the entire country was dropping its observance of DST. So I think the answer is that Atyrau was in Asia/Aqtau from 1996 to 2005. (I tried to send this message two days ago, but it didn't get through.) -- Gwillim Law ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jesper Norgaard Welen" <jnorgard@prodigy.net.mx>

# The zone closer to UTC is the former Western zone (probably still called the # same), encompassing four provinces in the west: Aqtobe, Atyrau, # Mangghystau, and West Kazakhstan. The other zone encompasses # everything else.... I guess that would make Kazakhstan time zones # de jure UTC+5 and UTC+6 respectively.

Atyrau lies betwen the Aqtobe and Mangghystau (Aqtau) regions. Do we know if it followed Asia/Aqtobe or Asia/Aqtau in the past?