Text of the Final Statement of the Conference for Change in Syria

‘Conference calls on President Bashar Assad to resign immediately from all of his positions’

Antalya, June 2, 2011

Syria witnesses today its harshest and most painful days, but at the same time sees the birth of a new dawn of freedom that the Syrian youth are making with their blood and sacrifice, on the ground, through peaceful protests, which puts on the Syrians the responsibility of working with their brothers and sisters – inside and outside the country – to build a new future.

Hence, national Syrian figures came together to hold the Conference for Change in Syria and sent out invitations to all the political and popular factions and constituents present at the Syrian scene, for the purpose of stopping the bloodshed of our people, and taking a firm stance on what is going in our country, in the face of the insistence of the tyrannical regime in choosing a military and security solution, and refusing the just demands of the people for freedom and democracy.

The Conference for Change in Syria was held in Antalya between May 31 and June 2 for the support of the Syrian Revolution and to search for solutions that can save Syria from tyranny and put it on its track for freedom and dignity. Participants resolved that:

1- Participants are committed to the demands of the Syrian people that President Bashar Assad leaves, and to the toppling of his regime and to the support of the peaceful revolution of the Syrian people toward freedom and dignity.

2- The Conference calls on President Bashar Assad to resign immediately from all of his positions, and hand over power temporarily to the Vice President as stipulated by the constitution, until the election of an Interim Council that shall draft a new constitution. Based on the new constitution, there shall be calls for free and fair parliamentary and presidential elections, within a maximum period of one year from the resignation of President Assad. In case he responds to this national offer that aims at stopping bloodshed, participants promise he will not be prosecuted.
(UPDATE: Final statement retracted the offer to Assad and deleted the sentence 'In case he responds to this national offer that aims at stopping bloodshed, participants promise he will not be prosecuted.')

3- Participants commit their support toward the revolution of our people until it realizes its goals while reaffirming its pillars: its peaceful nature, its national nature, preserving the unity of the country and rejecting any foreign military intervention, while insisting on the national and all-encompassing nature of the Syrian Revolution which does not represent any faction and which does not target any faction of the Syrian people.

4- Participants reaffirm that the Syrian people is formed of several ethnicities Arab, Kurd, Chaldo-Assyrian, Assyrian, Turcoman, Circassian, Armenian and others. The Conference reaffirms the legitimate and equal rights for all these ethnicities in the new Syria constitution, within the framework of the unity of the Syrian homeland and based on a civil state and multiparty democratic system.

5- Participants commit to working for a future Syria that will be a democratic state where human rights are respected and where the freedom of all citizens is protected, including the freedom of speech and religious worship, in light of a civil state based on the separation of the three estates: the legislative, the judicial and the executive. The new state employs democracy and going to the ballot boxes as the only tool for running the country.

6- Serious effort for economic prosperity and scientific progress in an atmosphere of justice, peace security and peace.

7- Participants call on the Arab peoples, the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Congress and the international community to take their legal and ethical responsibility to stop violations of human rights and crimes against humanity committed against unarmed civilians, and to support the aspirations of the Syrian people toward freedom and democracy.

The conference concluded its deliberations with the election of a Consultative Commission through the election of tickets submitted by participants. The Commission shall select an Executive Committee that shall present an action plan to coordinate activities in support of the Syrian Revolution and muster all possible support to achieve the goal of peaceful change.