30 MIGRATORY WAVES TO LEBANON During the last century, Lebanon witnessed many waves of migration. While some people came as refugees fleeing violence, others came as migrant workers. In parallel, the period is also marked by internal migration and gradual sedentism of nomadic groups. Statelessness is deeply intertwined with these phenomena. Armenians Around 30,000 Armenians of Anatolia sought refuge in Lebanon following the genocide. They were granted Lebanese nationality. 1915 Mardinites Christians Asians and Africans Unrests linked to the dislocation of the Ottoman empire pushed Assyrian and Syriac Christians from Mardin to seek refuge in Lebanon. Most were granted Lebanese citizenship. 1920s 1930s Internal migration Thousands of Lebanese started migrating towards Beirut and its suburbs seeking better job opportunities. With an average yearly population of over 200,000, migrant domestic workers, mostly women, started coming into the country under the Kafala system. 1948 1990s 2011 Kurds Nomadism Palestinians Syrians 7,000 Kurds left Ottoman Kurdistan as political refugees and economic migrants, with a second wave escaping Syria in the 1950s. Most remained stateless until the 1994 naturalization decree. With the strengthening of borders and cadasters, many nomads had to abandon their traditional nomadic lifestyle of transhumance and settled around the capital for better opportunities. Following the 1948 Nakba, around 100,000 Palestinian refugees were settled in camps around major cities. More than 1.5 million of Syrian refugees escaped their country’s civil war to Lebanon. © 2023 Siren Associates. All Rights Reserved.