BEIRUT: Syria’s main opposition grouping said Monday it was willing to attend peace talks on the condition that President Bashar Assad transfer power and be excluded from any transition process.

In a statement issued after two days of meetings in Istanbul, the key National Coalition said it would take part in mooted peace talks in Geneva “on the basis of the full transfer of power.”

It also stipulated “that Bashar Assad and those with the blood of Syrians on their hands have no role in the transitional phase and Syria’s future.

Speaking in Abu Dhabi, US Secretary of State John Kerry said any decision by the opposition to take part in talks would be a “big step.”

“We take note of the fact that ... the Syrian opposition voted to go to the Geneva II (conference). This is a big step forward and a significant one,” Kerry said.

The statement, issued by the Coalition’s General Assembly, also calls for the establishment of humanitarian aid corridors and for the release of prisoners.

“The Coalition also requires that prior to the conference, aid convoys from the Red Cross and Red Crescent and other aid groups be granted continued access to besieged areas,” the statement said.

And it demands “the release of detainees, especially women and children,” without providing additional details.

The Syrian National Council, a key Coalition member, has threatened to leave the umbrella grouping if attends the talks.

But Monzer Aqbiq, an adviser to Coalition president Ahmed Jarba, said Monday that the Council appeared to have changed their mind.

“The resolution has been approved quasi-unanimously,” he said of the statement released on Monday.

“They have obviously changed their mind because they voted yes for the text.”

Aqbiq said persuasion and explanation of the goal of the talks had helped convince some skeptics.

“There are many groups that when you’re explaining to them that political transition means that the regime will change, they immediately know how it is and say OK,” he added.

But the gaps in the consensus Aqbiq described were already clear.

“Whether or not to go to Geneva is the decision of the Syrian people,” said Louay Safi, a member of the Syrian National Council and a spokesman for the Coalition, in a statement on Sunday.

“The Coalition is nothing but a mechanism to apply their will.”