Several waves of populations fled Anatolia in the 1910s and 1920s, to Syria or Lebanon, which was seen as a land of welcome. This is the case of the Armenians and Assyrians who fled genocides (of Armenians, Sayfo, of Pontus Greeks), and who benefited from Article 13 of Decree No. 8837 of 15 January 1932, which states that ""Refugees from Turkish territories such as Armenians, Syriacs, Chaldeans and members of the Greek Catholic and Orthodox churches, or other persons who are of Turkish origin, shall be counted as Lebanese provided that they were found in the Lebanese territories on August 30, 1924 according to Regulation 2825"".