Astana process... 20 meetings at the expense of the Syrians

The first round of Astana process meetings was held on January 23, 2017, and one of the most prominent results of these meetings was the contribution to dividing the Syrian lands into areas of influence under the name of “De-escalation” under the supervision of different countries, and contributing to the support of the Damascus government, and the launch of... The Turkish occupation state has a greater hand in occupying Syrian lands.

During this report, we will list the most important things that happened during the rounds of Astana meetings that were held, and the most prominent results that resulted from them, at the expense of the Syrians, their land and their people.

20 rounds... How were they held? What did you produce?

The first round was held on January 23-24, 2017: The round was the beginning of the sharing of influence between (Russia, Turkey, and Iran), after the understandings that took place on December 29, 2016, where the proposed solutions were based on the Aleppo model, which Turkey sold its mercenaries to the government of Damascus and Russia, and at the end of the first round, the agreement was announced to establish a tripartite mechanism to monitor full compliance with the ceasefire, but what they agreed to did not happen, and the clashes and bombing continued.

The second round in mid-February: Despite the Russian announcement that the second round had established a “firm mechanism” to monitor the ceasefire, the ceiling of ambitions for this meeting was much higher when the previous one concluded, as the talk was about preparing the final touches on the map for the deployment of “Jabhet al-Nusra” mercenaries in Syrian territory, in preparation for separating the “moderates” from it with the aim of fighting it later, but this did not happen because of the support of one of the so-called guarantor parties - Turkey - for the mercenaries of Jabhet al-Nusra.

The third round in mid-March 2017: The final statement indicated that the “guarantor states” agreed to form committees to monitor the truce and violations, committees to follow up on the aid file, and committees for the prisoners and detainees file, in addition to a proposal to form a committee to draft the Syrian constitution, but nothing changed on the matter. On the ground, killing, bombing, clashes and starvation continued.

The fourth round in early May 2017: resulted in an agreement to define the so-called (De-escalation) areas, and included Idlib, Eastern Ghouta, the northern Homs countryside, and southern Syria for a period of 6 months, but the Syrian bloodshed continued, and after the fourth round of Astana, all fronts began fighting against the Damascus government stopped under Turkish orders, and thus the forces of Damascus and Russia devoted themselves to controlling the four “De-escalation zones”, one after the other, and the mercenaries who refused to sign the surrender documents were transferred to Idlib, which is controlled by the mercenaries of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhet al-Nusra), which is classified on the terrorist international list on 90% of its area.

The fifth round in early July: It was concluded without the signing of documents, and the conclusion of the agreement on establishing 3 De-escalation zones in Idlib, Homs and Eastern Ghouta governorates was temporarily postponed, and the parties to the Astana talks “Russia, Turkey and Iran” were unable to coordinate the borders of those areas.

The sixth round in mid-September: The sixth round fulfilled the interests of the guarantor countries. Russia was able to reduce mercenary attacks on Damascus, and thus helped the latter control new areas, impose sieges on other areas, starve their residents, and make the mercenaries there surrender.

The seventh round, on October 30, 2017, ended without achieving significant results, as the participating parties did not reach any agreement regarding the release of detainees, the exchange of prisoners, and the continuous delivery of aid to the population in the besieged areas.

The eighth round, also on December 21 of the same year, resulted in setting a date for a conference in Sochi, Russia. In this round, the countries sponsoring Astana focused on converging views on the broad outlines of the Russian initiative aimed at being an alternative to the Geneva platform that failed. Causing any breach as a result of incompatibility between a number of files.

Turkey exploited these meetings to occupy Afrin by making deals with Russia, as Eastern Ghouta was emptied of Turkish mercenaries in exchange for allowing Turkey to occupy Afrin.

The ninth round, on May 14, 2018: At the conclusion of the round, the trio issued a joint statement in which Russia, Turkey, and Iran affirmed their readiness to continue joint efforts to implement UN Security Council Resolution 2,254, and to support the implementation of the recommendations of the “Syrian National Dialogue Conference” in Sochi, and Russia began to promote A draft constitution written by Russian experts.

the tenth round, on July 30, 2018: The three countries intervening in Syria agreed to “help the Syrians” restore their normal lives, and to begin talks to help the displaced and refugees return, but none of this was achieved, and rather the killing, destruction, and displacement continued.

The eleventh round on November 28, 2018: The round did not reach any results. The parties were supposed to discuss the formation of the Constitutional Committee, but the talks failed at the beginning due to a dispute between Russia and the then American envoy to Syria, James Jeffrey.

The twelfth round on April 25, 2019: During which the Damascus government threatened to launch a military operation on Idlib, in which mercenaries from all over Syria gathered.

The thirteenth round: It ended with a statement similar to the one before it, without concrete decisions regarding progress in the file of the so-called Constitutional Committee, which contradictory statements were issued by the participating parties regarding its completion. Disagreements between Russia and Iran increased regarding Russia’s participation in the Jerusalem security meeting between Russia, America, and Israel. And its approval of the continuation of Israeli strikes on Iranian sites inside Syrian territory.

The fourteenth round in the same year: It concluded in the Kazakh capital, Nur-Sultan, without bringing with it anything qualitatively new except hostility to the Kurds and all components of North and East Syria, in which it allowed the occupation of the areas of the Autonomous Administration of Serêkaniyê and Girê Spi in north and east Syria in October of the same year 2019.

The fifteenth round, on April 23, 2020: The participants came out with a statement about the situation in northwest Syria, as was the custom in most recent track meetings, which did not lead to an end to the escalation. During the 14th and 15th rounds, important field events and developments took place in Idlib and its environs, as Damascus took control of the entire southern Aleppo countryside and a large part of the western Aleppo countryside. It also controlled a large portion of the southern and eastern Idlib countryside, especially the cities of Saraqib and Maarat al-Numan, in addition to besieging more from the so-called old and new Turkish points in the vicinity of Idlib.

The sixteenth round on July 7-8, 2020: It came out with a final statement that did not differ anything from the statement of the previous round, as it touched on the interests of the three countries in Syria, and attacked the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

The seventeenth round on December 21, 2021: The final statement of the 17th round of the Astana series between the trio of deals (Russia, Turkey, and Iran) regarding Syria did not deviate from the scope of the statements of the previous rounds, which included talking about (the unity and independence of Syrian territories) and attacking the democratic experience in north and east Syria.

This tour coincided with intense attacks by the Turkish occupation on North and East Syria, where it intensively bombed the contact lines in Tal Tamr and Zarghan, in addition to the bombing by drones on Kobani, which led to martyrs and wounded, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov issued negative statements towards the  AANES and Kurds.

The eighteenth round on June 17, 2022: The eighteenth round of Astana meetings did not produce any surprising or unusual results, except for the failure of the Turkish occupation to obtain a deal that would enable it to expand its occupation of areas in north and north-eastern Syria, where it was threatening before this round launching a new occupation operation.

The nineteenth round on October 23, 2022: The nineteenth round of the “Astana” meeting concluded, at a time when the Turkish occupation state continues its air and ground attacks on the regions of North and East Syria. The final statement of the trio of deals was not different from what preceded it, and as usual, the trio agreed. On hostility to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, and turning a blind eye to the barbarism of the Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries in northern Syria, as the statement renewed the anti-Autonomous Administration discourse and described it as a “separatist project.”

The twentieth round on June 21, 2023: The 20th round of the “Astana” meeting was concluded, in the wake of the Turkish occupation state’s attacks on North and East Syria, while the Kazakh Foreign Ministry proposed making this meeting of the Astana talks on Syria the last round of meetings in this format, and the final statement differs from its predecessor, which insisted on leveling accusations of “secession” of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which has always emphasized in word and deed the unity of Syrian territory and called for dialogue with the Damascus government, in contrast to the Turkish occupation state and its mercenaries, in addition to this round included an attempt to push normalization between the Damascus government and the Turkish occupation, as the Russian road map was discussed regarding this.

The next round... Turkey intensifies its attacks and what remains of the “De-escalation” is igniting

  Following these rounds, the twenty-first round of Astana meetings is expected to be held on the 24th and 25th of this January, as the Kazakh Foreign Ministry announced.

This round was preceded by an escalation by the Turkish occupation state on the regions of North and East Syria, in which the bombing intensified on infrastructure and service facilities, in parallel with an escalation carried out by the Damascus government on the areas of influence of the Turkish occupation in the countryside of Idlib, Hama and Aleppo, and the bombing focused on the Jabal al-Zawiya area, and southern Aleppo.

T/Satt.

ANHA