The United States Sunday welcomed Turkey's decision to reduce its purchases of oil from neighboring Iran by 20 percent.

"I was encouraged to hear Turkey's announcement that it will significantly reduce crude oil imports from Iran," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a press conference in Istanbul where she attended a "Friends of Syria" conference.

An international conference in Istanbul by "Friends of Syria" countries on Sunday urged the United Nations to act to stop the violence and recognized the opposition Syrian National Council as the "legitimate representative of all Syrians," but steered clear of backing opposition appeals for arms to fight the regime clampdown.

In a final declaration, the conference urged Syria mediator Kofi Annan "to determine a timeline for next steps, including a return to the U.N. Security Council, if the killing continues."

A deadline must be set for the Syrian regime to implement a peace plan by international envoy Kofi Annan, France's foreign minister said on Sunday.

"There is a risk of course of dragging out, and we can see the tactics of the regime that is to buy time," Alain Juppe told reporters on the sidelines of the second "Friends of Syria" conference in Istanbul.

The U.N. must act to stop the violence in Syria, a major conference heard Sunday as bloodshed on the ground claimed more lives.

The head of the Arab League Nabil al-Arabi called on participants of the "Friends of Syria" conference to "simultaneously call on the Security Council to take a binding decision ... to stop the violence in Syria."

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed the efforts exerted by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi to Turkey to maintain stability in Lebanon, stressing that Turkey hasn’t witnessed a visit like this since the Ottoman empire.

Erdogan stressed on the importance of the visit of al-Rahi, saying “it comes at a time everyone needs to go back to dialogue and reconciliation.”

Syrian opposition leader Burhan Ghalioun said a "Friends of Syria" conference that opens in Turkey on Sunday must back the arming of rebels.

"The Syrian National Council expresses the demands of the Syrian people," Ghalioun told the press. "We have repeatedly called for the arming of the Free Syrian Army.

Expectations are low of an international conference Sunday in Istanbul having much impact on the Syrian crisis, as discord among the so-called "Friends of Syria" outweighs their agreements.

More than 70 representatives from Western and Arab countries will gather to craft a solution aimed at halting the killing in Syria, after more than a year that has left between 9,000 and 10,000 people dead in a crackdown on dissent by Bashar Assad's regime.

Iraq may not participate in the "Friends of Syria" conference in Istanbul on Sunday as it wants to maintain its ability to serve as a mediator, the Iraqi prime minister's spokesman said.

"We want to maintain our mediation role, and the role of mediator sometimes requires not participating in this conference or that," Ali Mussawi told Agence France Presse.

Turkish lawmakers on Friday overwhelmingly adopted an education bill which extends access to religious schools and has infuriated the country's secularists.

The bill was supported by 295 MPs and opposed by 91 in a house dominated by the Justice and Development Party, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's moderate Islamist movement, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Syria should heed the will of its people by implementing political reforms and allowing free elections, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on a visit to Tehran in remarks reported by Iranian media Friday.

"The Syrian regime should be receptive to the will of its people, who want elections and democracy," Erdogan said, according to an interview aired on Iranian state television late Thursday.