ASTANA. Dec 21 (Interfax) - Kazakh Presidential Advisor for Political Affairs Yermukhamet Yertysbayev has criticized the country's government for the situation in the city of Zhanaozen (Mangistau region, western Kazakhstan), which was hit by mass riots recently.
"In my view, the government is a central control body in the Western understanding, and if a malfunction happens somewhere, in this particular instance, in Zhanaozen, urgent measures should have been taken as early as six months ago," he told Interfax.
The government should have "concentrated a significant part of the industrial innovation program on the depressive regions, in particular, Zhanaozen, so as to build there three or four totally new factories, several vocational schools and a college for training medium-level managers," the official said.
"In short, to employ people. This is what the government exists for," the presidential advisor said.
"I fully support all the steps being made by the government [to settle the situation in Zhanaozen], and in terms of self-criticism, as an official I can say that we missed the right moment, this should have been dealt with earlier," he said.
Mass riots occurred in Zhanaozen and the village of Shetpe in the Mangistau region. As a result, 14 people were killed in Zhanaozen and one in Shetpe.
Last Saturday Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev imposed a state of emergency in Zhanaozen.
According to investigators, the riots were started by sacked employees of oil companies.