Reuters: ISTANBUL: Syria’s divided opposition, under heavy pressure to shake up its Islamist-dominated ranks, struck a deal Thursday to present a more representative image to the world before a proposed peace conference.

 

Delegates at talks in Istanbul agreed to admit a liberal bloc led by veteran dissident Michel Kilo into the Syrian National Coalition, which acts as the civilian opposition leadership in the more than two-year conflict with President Bashar Assad’s regime.

 

The deal followed seven days of marathon talks and required the intervention of Turkey as well as Western and Arab nations.

 

Opposition leaders are looking to allay widespread fears that the uprising is being hijacked by hard-line Islamists, who have been at the forefront of the armed insurgency.

 

Thursday’s agreement marked the first stage in a process to choose new leaders for the coalition, rudderless since March, and name a provisional government to strengthen now weak links with rebel units inside Syria.

 

Rebels Thursday said they should be granted half the seats in the coalition, warning that without strong representation of fighters on the ground the group would have no legitimacy.

 

“We have learned that there have been compromises to expand the coalition which include bringing in a number of politicians, and a similar number from the rebel forces operating on the ground,” a statement issued in the name of the Western-backed rebel military council said.

 

Rebel forces had “requested 50 percent rebel and military representation,” it said. “The legitimacy of the coalition will only be granted from inside [Syria], and circumventing this rebel representation will mean legitimacy is withdrawn.”

 

Col. Qassem Saadeddine from the Military Council said that with 50 percent of the seats the rebels would guarantee a say in any future political deal to resolve Syria’s conflict.

 

“Negotiations and talks will not succeed without the approval from us inside the country, from those who are paying the price with their blood,” he said. “Without us, the West must understand that the coalition is only a coalition of illusion.”

 

Russia and the United States are trying to bring representatives of Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for 43 years, and the opposition together for peace talks in Geneva.

 

Assad was quoted Thursday in a Lebanese newspaper as saying he would attend, while the opposition coalition declared it would take part only if a deadline were set for a settlement that forces him to relinquish power.