Syrian men chant slogans against Syria's President Bashar al-Asad as they arrive by foot in Wadi Khaled village, northern Lebanon, near the Lebanese-Syrian border, May 14, 2011. Hundreds of Syrian families, fleeing what they say is fierce fighting in their homeland, have crossed into the village in northern Lebanon.Omar Ibrahim/Reuters
Syria's main Kurdish parties said the authorities must take concrete steps to end repression and transform Syria into a democracy to solve the nation's political crisis, joining mainstream opposition demand.
In the first statement since mass demonstrations against autocratic rule erupted in southern Syria two months ago, 12 Kurdish parties said the authorities needed to stop using violence against peaceful protesters.
It was issued as a military crackdown was intensified against hotspots of demonstrations against Preident Bashar al-Assad's autocratic rule.
Syrian troops and gunmen backed by armour entered the town of Tel Kelakh in Homs province on Saturday, a day after a protest in the town called for Assad's removal. At least five people were killed and hundreds fled fighting to neighbouring Lebanon, activists and witnesses said.
Fleeing residents reported seeing soldiers and black-clad gunmen loyal to Mr. Assad, and said they heard the sound of machine gun fire.
"The nonchalance by which the regime is killing civilians and peaceful protesters has driven some in Tel Kelakh to resist," one of the rights campaigners said.
Mr. Assad has tried a mix of reforms and repression to stamp out the dissent, but with neither protesters nor government breaking the deadlock after two months of unrest, authorities announced on Friday plans for a "national dialogue", as security forces killed up to nine protesters across Syria, human rights campaigners said.
To placate Syria's Kurds, who had begun stage pro-democracy demonstrations, Mr. Assad issued a decree last month to grant citizenship to tens of thousands of Kurds born in Syria.
But Mohammad Ismail, a senior member of the Kurdish Democratic Party in Syriam said they decree has not been implemented in practice, but the Kurdish declaration was issued to show that Kurds "are a part of the national struggle for freedom in Syria."
The declaration, a copy of which was sent to Reuters on Sunday, said thousands of political prisoners must be freed and freedom of expression and assembly before any national dialogue could begin.
"Syria is witnessing an awakening. The mass national movement for democratic change is calling for fundamental reform to end repression and single party rule, build a modern civic state and... achieve real partnership among citizens," it said.
The declaration said Kurdish demands to end discrimination against Syria's 1 to 1.5 million minority Kurds in area such as citizenship, language, property and development projects were part of equal treatment policies and wider political freedoms needed nationwide.
Since Mr. Assad crushed a 2004 uprising by Syria's Kurds, Kurdish parties have been wary of being seen as a separatist movement. Demonstrations in Kurdish regions erupted only after they spread outside the south.
Syria's Kurds have seen the lot of their brethren in Turkey and Iraq improve in the last six years, with Turkey lifting restrictions on its own Kurdish population and Kurdish in northern Iraq being granted a federal zone and 25 percent of the national budget.
Kurdish parties, which are mainly present east and in the fertile regions north of Aleppo, have managed to somewhat escape the grip of the security authorities under 40 years of Assad family rule, giving them more clout on the street. But prominent Kurdish figures have been imprisoned in the past few years.
Their declaration echoes statements by prominent Syrian Arab opposition figures. Aref Dalila, an economist who met Mr. Assad's adviser Bouthaina Shaaban last week, said "the domination of the security apparatus over life in Syria" must end for different opinions to be represented.
The United States and European Union have imposed targeted sanctions on Syrian officials and condemned Assad's repression of the eight-week uprising, in which rights groups say about 700 people have been killed by security forces.
Authorities blame "armed terrorist groups" for most of the violence and say 120 soldiers and police have been killed.
But the bloodshed after Friday prayers was still less than in previous weeks. There were fewer clashes and the numbers of protesters were lower in areas where Mr. Assad dispatched troops and tanks to stamp out rallies.
Mr. Assad's Baath Party has run Syria with an iron fist since a 1963 coup, most of that time with his late father Hafez al-Assad as president. On his death in 2000, Bashar took power.
Bashar has reinforced Syria's alliance with non-Arab Iran and continued to support militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah, while holding intermittent, indirect peace talks with Israel.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, in an interview with the pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper, condemned Assad's response to the protests, inspired by uprisings across the Arab world.
Asked whether he considered Assad still had legitimacy to rule Syria, Mr. Juppe replied: "A regime which fires on its own people loses legitimacy ... Unless the regime changes its position, it should be punished".