Astana Platform was created after several meetings in Nur-Sultan between members of the Syrian opposition forces. The platform is headed by the Syrian politician Randa Kassis.
Timeline
9 April 2015: At a press conference during the Syria talks in Moscow, Kassis called on the Kazakh PresidentNursultan Nazarbayev to host the Syrian opposition for a new round of negotiations due to Kazakhstan's neutrality and good relations with the permanent members of the UN Security Council.
21 April 2015: Nazarbayev accepts to host the new round of negotiations between the Syrian opposition forces.
1 May 2015: Kazakh Foreign MinisterErlan Idrisov and Kassis set up a political platform to assemble Syrian opposition members in the Kazakh capital Astana, which will later be known as the " Astana Political Platform "
25–27 May 2015: First round of negotiations mediated by Idrisov.
28 May 2015: Opposition forces issue a joint statement calling for a gradual political transition of power, the withdrawal of all foreign insurgents involved in the conflict and the release of all political prisoners. They also requested that Kazakhstan agree to host them again for a second round of negotiations.
17–18 September 2015: Center of Political and Foreign Affairs, headed by Fabien Baussart, organises a conference entitled " Kazakhstan Peace Talks " with the Kazakh government in Astana. The conference participants were multiple Nobel Peace Prize Laureates and other renowned politicians, Kazakh politicians including President Nazarbayev, Fabien Baussart and Randa Kassis. During the conference, Kassis asked Nazarbayev to host a second round of negotiations in October, which he accepted.
2–4 October 2015: Second round of negotiations between Syrian opposition forces headed by the Secretary of State of Kazakhstan Gulshar Abdeskalkova and mediated by Baussart and the deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Askar Mussinov.
5 October 2015: The participants of the second round of negotiations release a joint statement calling for a reform of the Syrian constitution and the electoral process.
1 February – 23 March 2016: The Astana political platform is invited by the UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura to participate in the Geneva Peace Talks 2016 along with other opposition forces including the Moscow platform, the High Negotiation Committee and the Cairo platform.
In March 2017, the Astana political platform invited numerous Syrian academics, constitutionalists and political figures in order to start drafting a new constitution for Syria. The initiative was launched by Kassis and later supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia. The draft of the Syrian constitution was completed in July 2017 with the help of French constitutionalist expert Xavier Latour, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Yasar Yakis and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy Giulio Terzi.
The Syrian Congress in Sochi
On 13 January 2018, Sochi hosted the Syrian National Congress, where numerous Syrian ethnic representatives and opposition forces – including the Astana platform – met to discuss various issues. Kassis highlighted the importance of creating a constitutional committee in order to facilitate the peace process, which the UN and Astana troika – Russian, Iran and Turkey – later agreed to.
