Dubai: About 450 opposition figures representing a wide range of political forces in Syria met Saturday in Istanbul, Turkey, in what they called the National Salvation Conference.

The meeting, chaired by lawyer and a political prisoner for 13 years, Haitham Al Maleh, decided to cancel another parallel meeting in Al Qaboon district near Damascus because of what the opposition said was a massacre committed against the organisers of the meeting.

He said the regime has hijacked the nation of their right to govern themselves, and Syrians have decided to liberate their country now.

"Security forces killed 14 people who were assigned to secure the premises of the meeting in Qaboon," the highest death toll in Damascus alone since the uprising started four months ago, said Mesha'al Timmo, Kurdish leader and opposition figure based in Damascus.

Human rights report said more than one million people took to the streets in more than 250 locations in Syria. Sources said 36 people were killed on Friday.

"To meet in Damascus at this point of time seems not realistic because the regime is not yet ready to hear any voice other than the ones operating under the umbrella of the dictatorship," Timmo told the Istanbul conference through Skype.

Timmo said he was giving full authority for the meeting in Istanbul to take whatever decisions the meeting believe would help the brave men and women in Syria to continue their peaceful uprising against the regime.

The organisers dismissed a plan to elect a 75-member council and a shadow government to take care of the country once the regime collapses.

Unify ranks

In his opening remarks, Al Maleh urged the representatives to unify their ranks and respect the views of one another.

"None of us has the complete truth. Syrian people have suffered for five decades from a repressive regime that excluded other political forces from shouldering their responsibilities and finding ways to solve the problems of the nation. We believe that the regime is at its weakest point and we should be ready to take care of our nation once it collapses," he said.

In his brief speech, Burhan Ghallioun, Professor of Political Science at the Paris University of Sorbonne, thanked the organisers of Istanbul conference for dropping the idea of forming a shadow government in exile. "Forming a shadow government might divert the international attention from the bloodshed in Syria."

Meanwhile, famous TV star, May Skaf and three of her colleagues started yesterday a sit-in at a coffee shop located in front of the Ministry of Justice, from where the four were released yesterday. .

Skaf, who spoke to Gulf News from Al Sharyani Coffee shop, said she will not leave the area before her 24 colleagues who are still in illegal custody are released.