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Friday, March 13, 2009
NEWS BRIEFS
AZERBAIJAN: CRITICS NOT SANE, RULING PARTY LEADER SAYS
3/13/09
A global survey of civil liberties conducted by the US human rights
group Freedom House is "total delirium" to ruling Yeni Azerbaijan
Party Deputy Executive Secretary Mubariz Gurbanly, the Turan news
agency reported on March 12.
Freedom House’s annual Freedom in the World report categorized
Azerbaijan as a "not free" country, while neighboring Armenia and
Georgia were described as "partly free." The report noted, however,
that freedom has declined in all three South Caucasus countries.
"Azerbaijan declined due to the increasing monopolization of power by
President Ilham Aliyev and the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party" the
report reads. The report rated the quality of freedom in breakaway
Nagorno-Karabakh as being higher than that in Azerbaijan, sparking
additional anger from Azerbaijani MPs, the Russian-language Zerkalo
news site reported.