U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that Washington links solution of problems with human rights in Azerbaijan and South Caucasus with Karabakh conflict settlement.

March 11, U.S. State Department issued a report on “Human Rights in 2009,” that strongly criticized Azerbaijan for the state of human rights and media freedom.

On March 15, asked by RFE/RL whether the U.S. neglects state of human rights in Azerbaijan, caring about its oil interests and continuing to cooperate with Azerbaijani authorities regardless keen assessments, Hillary Clinton said, “We know that there are problems both in Azerbaijan and Armenia.”

Mentioning two bloggers imprisoned in Azerbaijan “for expressing their own views,” Clinton stated that U.S. spares no efforts for Karabakh conflict settlement. “We believe that if the conflict is resolved, numerous human rights problems will be solved as well,” State Secretary emphasized.

Human Rights Report also criticized state of human rights in Armenia.

A.G.