Syrian dissidents gathered here on Tuesday to set up a broad-based "national council" to coordinate their campaign to topple President Bashar al-Assad, an activist said.
The panel was formed after four days of discussions, the Syrian opponents told a press conference.
"We have given martyrs and some of us are injured... With all these efforts and sacrifices, as a result of this responsibility, a sense of unity has been formed," activist Ahmad Ramadan said in translated remarks.
"This council can be regarded as a phase towards the creation of the establishment of a representative body" for the Syrian revolution, Yasar Tabbara, another activist said on the quality of the council.
"The council will convene in about two weeks to elect the chair and secretary... When it convenes it will adopt its bylaws," added Louay Safi, a US-based political scientist.
"The council represents all the forces of the opposition from the left to the right," said Safi, adding that new dissident groups from Syria could be expected to participate during the process.
The dissidents declined to give out the names of council members and said the body, which brings together all opposition groups both from inside and outside Syria, would elect them after its first meeting.
"Coming together of all groups is a must despite all dangers. This delegation will bring different groups together," said Halis Halihi.
Half the council members would be from opponents inside Syria, Bashar al-Heraki, an engineer who was among the organizers of the protests in city of Daraa.
"Syrian people are very interested in such a council, they have been waiting this for a very long time," Heraki said, adding that the council would represent the revolution outside Syria.
"This council will be responsible for dealing with all issues related to international community and human rights. It will look ways and means to support the revolution to make sure that... the regime dismantles," Safi said.
"This council will try to form the structures (of a new order) which will emphasise the rule of law, civil society, economic growth, and an independent state, a state aware of its responsibilities," Ramadan said.
The council rejects any foreign intervention and emphasizes the "national" character of the revolution, rejecting the rule of any ethnic group over Syrian people, according to the final declaration of the meeting.
"Currently the council is part of a national security network. By this, the first steps of a large-scale transformation in Syria are taken," the declaration said.
The activists participated in the meeting in Istanbul are mainly from an Islamist background, but other opposition groups took part in the process as well.
Syrian dissidents have held several meetings in Istanbul and elsewhere in Turkey in recent weeks as Assad's regime stepped up its crackdown on protestors across the country.
UN rights chief Navi Pillay said Monday told 2,200 people had been killed since the mass protests in Syria began in mid-March.
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