Antalya Conference for Change in Syria

More than two months into the uprising, the death toll had reached 1,000. So after the April 2011 Istanbul Meeting had only resulted in a first joint declaration, a second meeting was envisioned to form a permanent committee, that was likened to the Libyan National Transitional Council. On 30 May, the eve of the conference, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad offered a general amnesty for prisoners, including those deemed to have committed "political crimes." The opposition however rejected the offer, considering it as just another plot by the regime to gain time. Mohammad Abdullah, son of political prisoner Ali al-Abdullah and a Washington-based Syrian dissident attending the conference, stated: "This shows weakness on the part of the regime.” ==Participation==

The conference was attended by c. 350 representatives of the Syrian opposition from all over the world, with a vast majority of c. 300 participants coming from the Syrian diaspora. According to the observing Tharwa Foundation, the participants represented more than 68 opposition parties and groups and a dozen human rights groups. While only few prominent oppositional figures from inside Syria participated, others, including Haitham al-Maleh, gave their support through voice recordings. Participants included members of Arab tribes, the Muslim Brotherhood, Kurds, Alawites, Turkmen, Druzes, Christians, Assyrians, Yezidis, intellectuals (academician, artist, scientist), nongovernmental organizations, the representatives of prominent provinces, leaders of the Damascus Declaration, Syrian exiles from Europe, the United States, the Middle East, and Turkey. The conference was the first one to be attended by reporters from all major global news outlets, including BBC, CNN, France 24, Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, Alhurra, the Associated Press, Reuters, AFP, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and numerous Turkish and European media outlets. ==Results ==

Final Declaration The conference concluded with a Final Declaration that displayed a change of tone regarding the Syrian government. Calling on president Bashar al-Assad to step down and to resign immediately from all of his duties and positions, this was the first time since the beginning of the uprising that the opposition dropped its calls for reform. Elected councils ; Consultative Council The participants elected a follow-up Consultative Council of 31 members to coordinate all further activities supportive of the envisioned Syrian revolution. The slate-based list included 4 Kurds, 4 members of Arab tribes, 4 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, 4 supporters of the Damascus Declaration, plus 10 under 30 years-old independents and 5 over-30 years old independents and received over 200 out of some 250 votes. The elected members were as following: • Hussain Abdelhadi • Tamer al-Awam • Amr al-Azm • Amir al-Dandal • Mulham al-Droubi • Moatasim Ibrahim al-Hariri • Ahmad Fahed Ibrahim al-Hodeideen • Muhammad Murad al-Khaznawi • Nour al-Masri • Ghassan al-Mifleh • Omar al-Muqdad • Salim Abdulaziz al-Muslet • Moaz al-Sibaai • Mosab Salih al-Tahhan • Radwan Badini • Najib Ghadbian • Ahmad Riyad Ghannam • Abdurrhaman Jleilati • Muhammad Karkouti • Mohammad Mansour • Salim Monem • Wajdi Moustafa • Hamdi Othman • Ammar al-Qurabi • Muhammad Rasheed • Muhammad Sadik Sheikh Deeb • Sondos Sulaiman • Walid Sheikho • Khawla Yusuf • Radwan Ziadeh • Aksam Barakat ; Executive Council Additionally an Executive Council was elected with the following nine members: • Amr al-Azm • Mulham al-Droubi • Ahed al-Hindi • Radwan Badini • Muhammad Karkouti • Abdel Ilah Milhem • Ammar al-Qurabi • Sondos Sulaiman • Khawla Yusuf == Reactions and scholarly opinions ==

Burhan Ghalioun, first chairman of the later Syrian National Council, criticized the event as "serving foreign agendas," which prompted one of the organizers, Abdulrazak Eid, to accuse Ghalioun of attempting to appease the regime. According to Swedish MENA-expert Aron Lund, the Muslim Brotherhood played "a central role" in the conference, while Kurds were "poorly represented". == Aftermath ==

The conference was succeeded by a Muslim Brotherhood-organized follow-up meeting two days later in Brussels, and another one in Paris that was addressed by Bernard Henri Levy It however took a number of further meetings in Istanbul and Doha, before at yet another meeting on 23 August in Istanbul created a permanent transitional council in form of the Syrian National Council. == References ==