AINA: Foreign Minister Carl Bildt has said he will not consider the decision of the parliament but will do everything he can to avoid it becoming official Swedish foreign policy.

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan had a phone conversation on March 13.

“We are hopeful that the Congress and the House of Representatives will not advance the measure,” Robert Gates said.

“The TUSIAD Board of Directors has taken the decision considering the fact that the visit is unlikely to produce any of the constructive outcomes we had hoped to achieve,” Abdullah Akyuz said.

The Georgian television sparked panic throughout Georgia by broadcasting a fake news item about a supposed invasion of Russian troops and murder of President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Politics does not follow moral or ethical standards; it recognizes only the notions of practicability and importance of this or that decision made at any level, be it legislative or executive. Most often, these decisions aim at making interim gains and are typically non-binding.

Last week, the internal political life in Armenia has been very active. On March 1, Monday, the Armenian National Congress (ANC) coordinator Levon Zurabyan addressing a rally in Yerevan on behalf of ANC voiced six steps to get out of the ‘March crisis’. According to Levon Zurabyan , those steps should be implemented before the next meeting of the PACE Monitoring Committee. "First of all, it is necessary to release all political prisoners, the second, to recover until April an independent body investigating killings on March 1 and 2. Third, to review the law on holding rallies and marches in April and re-shape it. The fourth, to open the A1 + TV station by May, the fifth, to reform the Armenia’s electoral code by late May and the seventh – to hold early parliamentary and presidential elections between June and September, " Levon Zurabyan said. The Congress will present these issues to the Council of Europe representatives on March 16 in Armenia.

The Sergei Paradjanov Festival in London and Bristol was opened with Yuri Mechitov’s photographic exhibition at the National Theatre Monday, February 22. The exhibition was composed of rarely seen photographs taken by Georgian photographer Yuri Mechitov during his 11 year friendship with the director. The Sergei Paradjanov Festival in London and Bristol was the first major celebration of the legendary artist and filmmaker whose talent transcends religious and political boarders, drawing on the cultural traditions of Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine and Russia. The Festival aimed to present the life and works of Sergei Paradjanov to UK audiences through a series of diverse events that include: a film season; a moving image installation; a symposium and a workshop at the BFI Southbank; a photographic exhibition at the National Theatre; screenings and talks at Pushkin House; a concert at St. Yeghiche Armenian Church; a film retrospective at Arnolfini (Bristol); and a photographic exhibition at The Bristol Gallery.

The government announced plans to connect most of Armenia’s general and secondary schools to the internet and join them into a unified network by 2011. The director of National Center for Educational Technologies Areg Grigoryan said 624 schools are already connected to the world wide web with plans pending to connect 750 more schools to the internet once work on building the dedicated network is completed as part of a World Bank funded project.