- published: 10 Sep 2015
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Refugees of the 2011–2012 Syrian uprising or Syrian refugees are Syrian nationals, who fled Syria with the escalation of the 2011–2012 Syrian uprising. Correct for April 2012, tens of thousands of Syrian refugees were registered outside Syrian borders, mostly finding refuge in neighbouring Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. Thousands more of Syrian refugees were most probably unrecorded.
The refugee problem has begun unfolding across Syrian borders on April 2011, intensifying with the siege of Talkalakh and the unrest in the Syrian province of Idlib. As a result, thousands of Syrian citizens fled across the border to Lebanon and Syria by summer 2011. By early July 2011, 15,000 Syrian citizens had taken shelter in tent cities, set up in the Yayladağı, Reyhanlı and Altınözü districts of Hatay province, near Turkey’s border with Syria, with 5,000 of them already returning back to Syria by that time of their own volition. The number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon had reached some 10,000 by late June. On July 12, Al-Jazeera reported that some Syrian refugees had found a sanctuary in Jordan, with numbers reaching 1,500 by December.
The Syrian people (Arabic: الشعب السوري / ALA-LC: al-sha‘ab al-Sūrī) are the inhabitants and citizens of Syria and are, overall an indigenous Eastern Mediterranean people. While modern-day Syrians are commonly described as Arabs by virtue of their modern-day language and bonds to Arab culture and history, they are, in fact, largely a blend of the various Aramaic speaking groups indigenous to the region who were Arabized when Muslim Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula arrived and settled following the Arab expansion. Syrians are tied together by geography, linguistic heritage, religion, and similar Eastern Mediterranean ethnicities. Most Syrians reside primarily in Syria; however 17 million Syrians live outside of Syria and they stay connected to their cultural roots by watching Syrian satellite television, listening to Syrian music and preparing Syrian cuisine.
Damascus, the capital of Syria, is one of the most continuously inhabited cities in the world (for 8000 years straight, Syrians inhabited Damascus), and a large percentage of Damascenes are the descendents of the early inhabitants of Damascus.
A refugee is a person who is outside their country of origin or habitual residence because they have suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because they are a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until recognized by the state where (s)he makes his(er) claim.
Refugee women and children represent an additional subsection of refugees that need special attention. For the refugee system to work successfully, countries must be prepared to allow Open borders for people fleeing conflict, particularly for countries closest to the conflict. This is a program that has helped many people, but people still believe there are flaws. Getting to a refugee camp is extremely difficult.
As of December 31, 2005, the largest source countries of refugees are Afghanistan, Iraq, Sierra Leone, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, and the Palestinian Territories.[clarification needed] The country with the largest number of IDPs is South Sudan, with over 5 million. As of 2006, with 800,000 refugees and IDPs, Azerbaijan had the highest per capita IDP population in the world.