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The Conference for Change in Syria ( tr, Suriye'de Değişim Konferansı), or Antalya Opposition Conference, was a three-day
conference of representatives of the
Syrian opposition held from 31 May until 3 June 2011 in
Antalya
la, Attalensis grc, Ἀτταλειώτης
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 07xxx
, area_code = (+90) 242
, registration_plate = 07
, blank_name = Licence plate
...
, Turkey. Since the early days of the
Syrian civil uprising, it was the second of its kind, following the
Istanbul Meeting for Syria that had taken place on 26 April 2011.
Organized by
Ammar al-Qurabi's ''National Organization for Human Rights in Syria'' and financed by the wealthy Damascene Sanqar family,
it led to a final statement refusing compromise or reform solutions, and to the election of a 31-member leadership.
Background
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
The National Transitional Council of Libya ( ar, المجلس الوطني الإنتقالي '), sometimes known as the Transitional National Council, was the ''de facto'' government of Libya for a period during and after the Libyan Civil War ...
.
On 30 May, the eve of the conference, Syrian president
Bashar al-Assad offered a
general amnesty
Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offic ...
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 Tribes of Arabia () or Arab tribes () are the ethnic Arab tribes and clans that originated in the Arabian Peninsula. The tribes of Arabia descend from either one of the two Arab ancestors, Adnan or Qahtan. Arab tribes have historically inhabit ...
, the
Muslim Brotherhood,
Kurds ug:كۇردلار
Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ira ...
,
Alawites
The Alawis, Alawites ( ar, علوية ''Alawīyah''), or pejoratively Nusayris ( ar, نصيرية ''Nuṣayrīyah'') are an ethnoreligious group that lives primarily in Levant and follows Alawism, a sect of Islam that originated from Shia Isl ...
,
Turkmen,
Druzes
The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...
,
Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...
,
Assyrians,
Yezidis
Yazidis or Yezidis (; ku, ئێزیدی, translit=Êzidî) are a Kurmanji-speaking endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. The maj ...
, intellectuals (academician, artist, scientist), nongovernmental organizations, the representatives of prominent provinces, Leaders of the
Damascus Declaration, Syrian exilees 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 #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
,
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
,
France 24
France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned international news television network based in Paris. Its channels broadcast in French, English, Arabic, and Spanish and are aimed at the overseas market.
Based in the Paris suburb of Issy-les-Mo ...
,
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...
,
Al Arabiya
Arabiya ( ar, العربية, transliterated: '; meaning "The Arabic One" or "The Arab One") is an international Arabic news television channel, currently based in Dubai, that is operated by the media conglomerate MBC.
The channel is a fl ...
,
Alhurra, the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...
,
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was esta ...
,
AFP, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' 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.
The final declaration consisted of the following seven demands:
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
Burhan Ghalioun ( ar, برهان غليون, Burhān Ghalyūn; born 11 February 1945 in Homs, Syria) is a French- Syrian professor of sociology at the Université de Paris III Sorbonne University in Paris, and the first chairman of the Syrian ...
, first chairman of the later
Syrian National Council, criticized the event as "serving foreign agendas," which prompted one of the organizers,
Abdulrazak Eid
Abdulrazak Eid, Abdul razzak Eid, Abdul razaq Eid, Abdel razzak Eid, Abdul razzaq Eid, or Abd al Razzaq 'Id (Arabic:عبد الرزاق عيد; born September 10, 1950) is a Syrian writer and thinker and one of Syria's leading reformers. He hel ...
, 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".
Paris-based political economist and publicist
Samir Aita considered the Antalya conference as the turning point from an uprising for "freedom and dignity" towards a full-scale revolution. While all other opposition groups were looking to create the
(NCB), Aita sees in the conference a first attempt of the Muslim Brotherhood and the
Syrian Democratic People's Party, main component of the
Damascus Declaration body, to head out on a different path.
Aftermath
The conference was succeeded by a
Muslim Brotherhood-organized follow-up meeting two days later in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, and another one in Paris that was addressed by
Bernard Henri Levy It however took a number of further meetings in
Istanbul
)
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, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
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, blank_i ...
and
Doha
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the count ...
, before at yet another meeting on 23 August in
Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_i ...
created a permanent transitional council in form of the
Syrian National Council.
References
Bibliography
*
{{Syrian Civil War
Syrian opposition
2011 in the Syrian civil war
2011 in Turkey
International conferences in Turkey
21st century in Antalya
May 2011 events in Turkey
June 2011 events in Turkey