The first convoys of refugees from Aintab and Kilis reached Syria’s northern border in summer 1922. It is estimated that, by January 1923, almost all the Armenians in these two cities had pulled up stakes for Aleppo.15 As far as Marash is concerned, the flow of refugees did not really begin until November 1922, after which it continued unabated down to March 1923; these refugees, too, made their way toward Aleppo.16 Late in 1922, yet another group of Armenians arrived from Diyarbakir, Harput, and Malatya, cities that produced a steady stream of refugees down to the end of 1924. Among them were the last remaining Armenians of Urfa, Garmuj, and Mardin. This new exodus brought some sixty-five hundred additional refugees to Aleppo, which once again became, early in 1923, a transit center for Armenians expelled from Kemalist Turkey. About forty thousand refugees were now settled in an urban agglomeration that had held some fifteen thousand Armenians before the genocide.17 The new arrivals reached Aleppo with only the shirts on their backs. In short order, the Mandatory authorities cleared the city of these newcomers, transferring them to other localities. Thousands of families were sent on to Lebanon, as well as to the regions of Damascus, Homs, and Hama.18 In order to meet the needs created by this massive new arrival of displaced persons, a large-scale emergency relief program was organized in Aleppo. To lodge the newcomers, the French High Commission rented several caravanserais. Another eleven caravanserais, together big enough to take in several thousand people, were put at the disposition of the ANU.19 Aleppo once again became a center of humanitarian activity.... Read all
The First Refugee Camps in Syria and Lebanon
Armenian shoeshine boys in Beirut (Coll. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).
Young Armenian construction workers in Beirut (Coll. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).