Greek Genocide
The Committee for the Union of Progress (CUP) took power over the Anatolia of the Ottoman Empire with a coup d’etat in 1913. After they took power there was a diplomatic agreement to move Greeks from Asia Minor and send them to Greece while sending Turks in Greece to the CUP. The CUP feared that the Greeks, who were not Turks, would threaten a modern Turkish state.
The outbreak of World War I prevented the exchange of populations and since the Turks believed that there was a chance the Greeks in Asia Minor might work against them, they came up with their own plan to solve the “Greek Problem.” Even through there was nowhere for them to go, Special Organization units emptied Greek villages of their populations. Lucky ones were able to flee to Greece, the unlucky were killed or sent to work camps.
The Special Organization in the summer of 1914 began conscripting all Greek men of military age. They were forced to work as slaves in deplorable conditions as part of what the Turks called Labor Battalions. Greek children were taken from their homes and families and forced to assimilate into Turkish society. Those that were left were forced to move to the interior on long marches. Many of them died of exposure during the forced moves.
Even after the Greeks, aided by the Great Powers, invaded Anatolia in order to save the Greek population, the massacres and deportations continued. The Greeks took Smyrna but it was retaken by the Turks in 1922. Once they had control again the Turks began a huge anti-Greek pogrom. A fire broke out on September 13, and took the lives of over 10,000 Greeks as it spread uncontrollably for two weeks. A peace treaty recognizing the Turkish state was signed in 1923, finally putting an end to the killings. It is unclear how many died from massacre or exposure, but some estimates put the number as high as 1.5 million.