But after four years, and with over one million refugees in the country – representing a fifth of the total population – the relationship has often become strained.
Tragically, in some cases the situation has provoked not only an inhospitable response, but an overtly racist one. Local municipalities have – without government sanctioning – hung up signs prohibiting Syrians from walking in the streets after dark. Syrians have been attacked and refugee tents burned.
This humanitarian crisis – one of the worst of our times – deserves a human response, and not one that treats refugees as if they somehow wish to be rendered homeless, with no idea what their future holds.