Invisible refugees, Egypt / 2014

The Syrian uprising started with peaceful demonstrations for democracy and freedom in 2011 and turned into a bloody civil war. After over three years, there is no end in sight. It is estimated that more than 3 million people fled from the armed conflict in Syria and they have been forced to live as refugees. The number of forcibly displaced people in Syria is increasing even now. Most of the Syrian refugees fled to the neighboring countries of Lebanon, Turkey, Jourdan and Iraq. But more than 130,000 Syrian people fled Egypt and have lived there as urban refugees. The situation of Syrian refugees in Egypt have changed after former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was overthrown in July 2013. This happened because the Egyptian provisional government didn't help the Syrian refugees in same way. Hundreds of Syrian refugees in Egypt have forced to flee the country. Some of them were deported to Syria and many were arrested after July 2013. A media campaign portrayed them as violent supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. Public opinion soon turned against the Syrian refugees and asylum seekers. Almost every Syrian refugees have been facing a worsening atmosphere in Egypt. Some of them began leaving Egypt to another country, especially Europe, because of fearing repatriation, detention, violation and discrimination. Only a handful of Syrian refugees, however, have fled from their situation in Egypt. Most of them have to give up to flee to another country due to insufficient money or papers. They have been somehow survived as refugees at the mercy of the social upheavals in Egypt and the quagmire of war in their homeland. A Syrian refugee said " There is no job, no safety and no human dignity for us. I want to flee to another country other than Syria or Egypt. But I also understand that we have nowhere to go except Syria or Egypt."