Turkey Officially Meets with Syrian Opposition

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has met with leaders of Syria's opposition movement urging unity in pursuit of a peaceful transition in the country, a Turkish diplomat said Tuesday.

"The minister met with representatives of the Syrian opposition, for the first time, in Ankara on Monday," the diplomat told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.

"Turkey advised the (Syrian National Council) to be unified and work together to proceed towards democratic and peaceful transition in Syria. ... Because the current situation cannot be sustained like that," the diplomat said.

Davutoglu also condemned the assassination of the dissident figure Ziad al-Ubeidi, the diplomat added.

Halid Hodja, a Turkish-based member of the SNC, told AFP that some representatives of the council met Monday in Istanbul to appoint a general secretariat.

The SNC, the largest and most representative Syrian opposition grouping, was founded in Istanbul at the end of August and numbers 140 members, half of them living in Syria.

Diplomats in Damascus had said the SNC's rise could result from an agreement between the United States, Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood and unite the main opposition strands: nationalists, liberals and Islamists.

Ankara has expressed frustration with Syrian President Bashar Assad for failing to listen to the people, whose almost daily pro-democracy rallies have been met with violent repression.

U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay warned at the weekend that Syria risked "a full-blown civil war."

Pillay said that more than 3,000 people, including 187 children, have been killed in the crackdown on anti-regime protests.