Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and their Iranian counterpart Hasan Rouhani met in Ankara for a Syria summit.

The triple summit has been the second held in the last 6 month. The Turkish President hosted the Damascus regime allies Putin and Rouhani. The future of Syria will be discussed in the summit.

The summit is a continuation of the Astana talks, which had launched on January 2017 and concluded with agreement on four areas dubbed the no-clash zones. And, with these talks, the Turkish state’s invasion of Syria was approved. Following the invasion along the Bab and Jarablus line, the invasion attacks against Afrin started on January 20.

The summit in Ankara happened after the Afrin city center was invaded on March 18, and Ghouta was taken under control by the Russia-backed regime forces. Air strikes continue in the Idlib region.

According to Le Figaro newspaper, an official Turkish source said that the forming of a constitutional committee will also be on the agenda. This issue had been brought up during the Sochi summit, but had remained unfruitful. The committee in question was to have 150 members, with Russia, Iran and Turkey all offering 50 names.

Elizabeth Teoman, expert in the Institute for Study of War, said: “The Astana Process is an opportunity for Turkey, Russia and Iran to manage the war and put it to use for their various interests.”

Turkey is planning to change the demographic makeup of the areas they invaded and settle in gangs loyal to them. Although Russia says the Astana process is not an alternative to the Geneva talks, neither form of negotiation has brought along a peaceful solution, on the contrary, both have deepened the insolubility. Kurds were excluded from both processes.