Syria's refugee crisis : history of a mass exodus

The year 2015 opened European eyes to the reality of the refugee crisis that had begun in 2011 in the Middle East. It was then that desperate families and individuals decided to put their lives at risk and sail off from Turkish coasts into the Mediterranean Sea, in terrible conditions, in order to reach European land and find a future for themselves and their children. But why would those people, mostly although by no means exclusively Syrian, do that instead of finding some form of safe passage? What were they running away from and what had prompted their exit from their country? Why were they not staying in neighboring countries as they had done for a couple of years? This chapter will examine the roots of the ongoing conflict in Syria and the reasons behind the mass exodus in a country which has also witnessed countless cases of forced internal displacement. By stating certain often forgotten facts, this chapter argues that most Syrians left to escape from terrorism, but not that of Daesh, but the Syrian State terrorism which has reduced several neighborhoods of two of the most important cities in Syria to ashes and has systematically supressed all forms of protest.