ANTALYA: Syria’s exiled opposition met on Tuesday to close ranks and forge a plan for a democratic Syria, in the first official gathering of activists since an uprising against Baathist rule erupted 10 weeks ago.
The conference in the Turkish coastal city of Antalya, brings together a broad spectrum of opposition figures driven abroad over the last three decades, from Islamists crushed in the 1980s to Christians escaping repression.
Scores of delegates chanted slogans demanding the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. They said a state crackdown on protests, which rights groups say has killed over 1,000 civilians, will hasten the end of 41 years of Assad family rule.

“The objective is to come out with a road map to liberate Syria from oppression and support the revolution for freedom and democracy,” said Moulhem Droubi, a member of the leadership council of the Muslim Brotherhood.
He said the conference would not form a transitional council similar to that set up by Libyan rebels fighting Muammar Qadhafi, because of the dangers of naming dissidents who are active in Syria and have sent representatives to the meeting.

“No one here in Antalya, the Muslim Brotherhood included, claims to be at the forefront of the street,” Droubi said.
Turkey, which shares an 800 km (500 mile) border with Syria, has become increasingly critical of Assad as the bloody crackdown against demonstrators has worn on.
Syria blames the violence on armed groups, Islamists and foreign agitators, saying more than 120 police and soldiers have been killed in the unrest nationwide.
Unlike the West, Ankara has not taken action against Assad, who removed restrictions on Turkish imports in the last three years, resulting in billions of dollars of Turkish goods flowing to Syria. The two countries have also cooperated on security.

Old Flag
Delegates in Antalya raised the green, white and black Syrian flag that pre-dated Baathist rule. The Baath Party came to power in a 1963 coup, ushering in an era of repression during which tens of thousands of Syrians were killed, disappeared or were driven into exile around the world.

“Bashar, the Hague will be your fate,” the delegates chanted, in reference to the international court.
Jean Antar, a representative of Syria’s Christian Assyrian League, said the meeting of 300 delegates from varied sects and ethnicities disproves the government assertion that only Assad, who belongs to Syria’s Alawite minority, can protect its diversity.
“More and more people are realising that the regime is playing minorities against each other to help it survive,” Antar said, adding that the number of Christians in Syria had fallen sharply since the 1980s, a trend seen across the Middle East.

Delegates said they had formed early consensus that outside intervention to topple Assad was not favoured, because it would give the authorities an excuse to kill more protesters.
They said the demonstrations have been growing despite military assaults on cities and towns. They acknowledged, however, that Damascus and Syria’s second city Aleppo would need to swing solidly behind the protests to bring about the mass protests seen in Egypt, where hundreds of thousands of people ultimately pressured Hosni Mubarak to leave.

“The regime has put in a huge security presence in Damascus and Aleppo, but Syrians know that this is the only opportunity in their lifetime to get rid of the Assad family,” said a former army officer who had fled to Jordan in the 1980s.

Assad issued a general amnesty for all members of opposition movements on Tuesday. It was the latest in a series of decrees aimed at addressing public grievances. Activists have dismissed these reforms as not changing the nature of the regime in Syria, where arbitrary arrests, beatings and torture are common.
Khalaf Ali Khalaf, an organiser of the conference, said the amnesty, which has numerous exceptions, “comes too late to appease the street, like vague and halfhearted promises for reform that preceded it.”