IF KARABAKH CONFLICT IS RESOLVED, HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES WILL BE SOLVED AS WELL: CLINTON

News.am
March 16 2010
Armenia

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.