 Decree of the Praesidium of the Supreme Soviet of Kazakh SSR dated October 23, 1961, granted the Yermak settlement the status of a town.In the 1960s, Yermak became the starting point of the Irtysh–Karaganda Canal, which takes water from one of the branches of the Irtysh at ,

By Decree No.TN 2189-ХП of the Praesidium of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated May 4, 1993, the town of Yermak was renamed the city of Aksu.