Syria urged to stop violent repression

Human rights groups and monitors reported that up to 70 people were killed in clashes on Monday, with a total of 140 dead since the Arab League voted on Saturday to suspend Syrias membership.Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Syrias government to turn back from the edge of the cliff. He threatened to cut electricity supplies to its southern neighbour if its president, Bashar al-Assad – feeding on blood – did not change course.Turkeys president, Abdullah Gul, added: Unfortunately, Syria today has entered a dead end. Turkey also announced the suspension of joint oil exploration with Syria.Meanwhile, the Syrian Revolution General Commission, an activist group, reported seven named individuals killed. Video clips posted online showed mutilated corpses and people being beaten.Syrian officials are forcing government workers to join mass rallies across the country on Wednesday in support of the regime.Assads growing isolation was underlined again when the six members of the Saudi-led Gulf Co-operation Council rebuffed his call for an emergency Arab summit to discuss the crisis.Russia, however, refused to back demands by Assads opponents to support them against the regime.The suspension, called shameful and malicious by Damascus, is due to take effect on Wednesday as foreign ministers meet in Morocco. League rules require 15 of the 22 members to back an emergency summit.On Monday King Abdullah of Jordan became the first Arab leader to call publicly for Assad to step down.Sudan, one of the 18 Arab countries which backed Syrias suspension, indicated it wanted to mend fences. Egypt and several other member states have ignored a league call to withdraw ambassadors from Damascus.Russia, meanwhile, urged the Syrian National Council (SNC), the largest anti-Assad opposition group, to talk to the regime. Burhan Ghalioun, the Paris-based SNC leader, said the opposition would only talk to those whose hands were not stained with blood.Russia has said the Arab League was wrong to suspend Syria and opposed any move by the UN Security Council to condemn the Assad regime.In Kuwait 33 MPs called on the government to recognise the SNC – in a move which would parallel recognition of the Benghazi-based Libyan rebels of the National Transitional Council while Muammar Gaddafi was in power.