Foreign Minister Ahmet DavutoÄŸlu met representatives from Syrian National Council in Ä°stanbul on Friday. DavutoÄŸlu discussed with the representatives of the Syrian National Council (SNC), an umbrella group of Syrian opposition forces, the decisions taken at Friends of Syria meeting in Tunis on Feb.4.
The Friends of Syria meeting convened representatives from more than 50 countries, including the US, EU and Arab League governments and Turkey, to discuss the ways to alleviate the humanitarian situation in Syria.
In Tunisia, the Friends of Syria, who met for the first time as a unified bloc, called on Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to immediately end the violence and allow humanitarian aid into areas hit by his regime’s crackdown.
The group meeting, co-chaired by Turkey and the EU, also vowed to increase their support of the SNC. In a final declaration at the meeting, the countries described the SNC as a legitimate representative of the Syrian people. Also on Friday, the Syrian army staged an operation on the Ain al-Beida village near the Turkish border. Witnesses said that 2,000 soldiers and 15 tanks belonging to the Syrian army laid siege to the village in the early morning hours of Friday, taking control of the village.
Witnesses also claimed the army set the village -- of over 1,000 residents -- on fire. Syrian citizens who were injured during the clashes between the Syrian army and the opposition crossed the border and were taken to hospitals in Turkey.