Baku lashed out at the Washington, DC-based civil rights watchdog Freedom House for not indicating secessionist Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan in the organization's annual report, Map of Freedom - 2009.

"[T]he map is drawn by some double-dealing people, who have sold themselves to make money," News.az agency on December 14 quoted presidential aide Elnur Aslanov as saying. The report described Karabakh as a disputed region and partly free in terms of civil liberties, while Azerbaijan is described as not free.

"Why is Freedom House silent about the fact that Armenia forced a million Azerbaijani citizens to flee their lands?" News.az quoted Aslanov as saying.