Time to shoulder responsibility in Syria, Davutoğlu says

Davutoğlu, addressing a ministerial gathering on the sidelines of the meeting of Syrian opposition groups, said the international community has reached a critical junction when it comes to the fate of Syria. “Today is an important day when other countries should throw their support behind the people of Syria,” Davutoğlu was quoted as saying. The meeting was closed to the press and Davutoğlu's remarks were carried by the Anatolia news agency, citing diplomatic sources.

Turkey, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, is a leading supporter of the Syrian opposition, which is trying desperately to overcome its divisions to present to the world a united front bent on toppling President Bashar al-Assad. The meeting in Doha was convened on Sunday after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for an overhaul of the leadership of the Syrian opposition to make sure people fighting on the ground are better represented.

The US, as well as other Western countries, is also worried over the growing influence of Islamic extremists within the opposition. They have been reluctant to offer overt support to anti-Assad fighters, fearing it would open the door to rule by hard-line Islamists among them.

The opposition groups meeting in Doha aim at hammering out an agreement on a new umbrella body uniting rebel groups inside and outside Syria amid growing international pressure to put their house in order and prepare for a post-Assad transition.

But the plan to unite opposition groups ran into trouble almost as soon as it was put on the table by Riyadh Seif, a member of the main opposition group the Syrian National Council (SNC). The initiative would create a body that could eventually be considered a government-in-waiting capable of winning foreign recognition and therefore more military backing.

“It's a consultative meeting; we will discuss all issues, including forming some kind of authority to manage the liberated areas,” SNC head Abdulbaset Sieda told reporters in Doha before the meeting began behind closed doors in a five-star hotel.

The meeting has so far been bogged down by arguments over the SNC representation and number of seats the rival groups -- which include Islamists, leftists and secularists -- will have.

Qatar's prime minister, Hamad bin Jassim, was due to speak at the meeting later on Thursday, signaling pressure on the Syrian opposition to get their house in order from the US-allied Arab country that has done the most to fund Arab opposition movements during the Arab Spring uprisings of the past year.

Seif's proposal is the first concerted attempt to merge opposition forces to help end the conflict that has devastated large swathes of Syria, including cities, and threatens to widen into a regional sectarian conflagration.

The initiative would also create a supreme military council, a judicial committee and a transitional government-in-waiting of technocrats -- along the lines of Libya's Transitional National Council, which managed to galvanize international support for its successful battle to topple Muammar Gaddafi.

One SNC source said the grouping had only agreed to the Doha conference under pressure from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United States and France.

“The Arab League will agree to whatever the Syrians agree, but there are still differences over which political factions will dominate [in a new body],” said Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Araby.