AFP, Istanbul, 12 Sept 2011 – Syrian dissidents on Thursday will present the list of members of a ‘National Council’ to coordinate their struggle against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, their spokeswoman Basma Qadmani said Monday.
‘The composition of the council will be announced this Thursday. Meanwhile, consultations (with dissident groups) are still ongoing,’ Qadmani said during a press conference in Istanbul.
Syrian opponents declared the establishment of a ‘National Council’ in Istanbul on August 23, after four days of discussions.
The board ‘represents all major forces (of Syrian dissidents): political parties, independent personalities who are symbols of the Syrian opposition’ and most of them live in Syria, Qadmani told AFP.
‘Once it is announced, the council will remain open to all remaining opposition forces,’ Qadmani said, adding that the aim of the council is not to eliminate other groups but to offer a ‘national framework’ for the whole opposition.
Qadmani, a political activist based in Paris, said the members of the council were selected by consensus according to their ‘personal qualifications’, from a list of 700 names representing a wide range of opposition forces.
The names of some council members from inside Syria might be kept secret to prevent any risk of repression, she said.
The aim of the council is ‘the fall of the regime, which is the demand of revolutionaries and street protestors in Syria’, Qadmani said.
Since mid-March Syria has been shaken by a protest movement that has been met with a deadly government crackdown and unprecedented violence.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, 2,600 people have been killed in the violent crackdown.