The term 'Anatolia' comes from Greek word "anatoli". It means 'East'. The region is called east because according to the Greek world, Minor Asia was the eastlands that was waiting to be discovered. When Anatolia was started to be colonized (1500 A.D) by the Greeks, it was populated by little tribes. Ephesos, Pergamos, Alikarnassos, Militos, were the most important cities, and many great philosophers were born there. Also the propagation of christianity started form Minor Asia. She was the birthplace of Saint Nicolas, Saint Basil, Saint Paul, Saint George, Saint Gregorius, Saint Ioannes Chrisostomus and many others.

In byzantine period other cities had great economic and cultural development. Proussa, Nicomedia, Kaisaria, Iconio, Sevastia, Philadelfia, Nicaia, Smirni, Attalia were some of them. Medieval greeks (byzantines) continued the prosperity and development of their ancestors, and the same time were fighting against enemies who came from the interior of Asia.

The fall of Constantinople (1453) marks the greatest disaster in Greek history. Greek cities of Anatolia were burned to ashes and greek monuments and churches were lost for ever. Thousands were massacred or sold as slaves in the turkish bazaars. Young boys were taking from small age and were converted to islam. Jenissaries, the most important part of turkish army was made up by young christian boys.

The turning point for the Hellenes of Asia Minor was the German-Turkish alliance that arose following the signing of the Treaty of Berlin (1878). Germany regarded Anglo-French "protection" of the Empire"s Christian peoples as an obstacle to its interests. So Germany opened the doors of the Berlin Academy to Turkish officers (amongst them Mustapha Kemal Ataturk and Enver Pasha, architects of the Holocaust). Germany convinced the Turkish authorities that christians were working for the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. (At this time, the Empire’s economic and political life was dominated by Hellenes, Armenians and Jews).

Hence, following the heavy defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan Wars (1912-13), the Young Turks (a military junta that seized control of the Empire in 1908), decided that Asia Minor would be a homeland for Turks alone: all others were to be eliminated. World War One gave the Young Turks the opportunity to implement their plan. Germany willingly sacrificed the indigenous Christian peoples (Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians) of Asia Minor to achieve its goals of direct access to the oil-fields of the Middle East. It is ironic, therefore, that the reports of German and Austro-Hungarian diplomats provide damning evidence that what was to take place was a meticulously-executed plan to depopulate Asia Minor of Christians: in other words, GENOCIDE.

"I am confident that the whole history of the human race contains no such horrible episode as this. The great massacres and persecutions of the past seem almost insignificant when compared with the sufferings of the Armenian race in 1915."

Henry Morgenthau: American Ambassador at Constantinople from 1913 to 1916

And then came the desaster of 1922. Turkish forces crushed greek forces, commanded by general Trikoupes on 13th August at Afion Karahisar. Then started the rout of greek army and turks ten days later, entered Smyrna. So Smyrna, the largest city in Asia Minor, a cosmopolitan hub populated by a highly educated Greek community and flourishing commercial and middle classes, was sacked and burned and its inhabitants were massacred by the Turkish forces of Kemal Attaturk. Turkish soldiers, led by their officers, set fire to Smyrna and razed most of the city under the gaze of "Allies" - United States, British, and French ships and foreign diplomats and journalists - who were stationed offshore. Chrysostomos, the spiritual leader of the Orthodox Christians in Smyrna refused to abandon the city, was seized from religious services he was conducting in the cathedral by Turkish police forces and was given over to be dismembered by a mob in the streets.

Before the first world war, there were at least 2.700.000 Greeks living in Anatolia. Today, not a single greek exist in Minor Asia - Anatolia. The first world war was an excellent medium for the party leaders to get rid of the non-muslim peoples from Anatolia. During the war, Armenian genocide and transportation was silently applied to the Armenian people. Nearly 1.500.000 Armenians were either killed or moved from the coutry. At the same time, the same act was applied to the Greeks living at Pontos or the Eastern Anatolia.

Sunday, December 3, 1922
New York Times Editorial
Page 6, Col. 2, Section 2,

A BLACK FRIDAY.

There have been many Black Fridays in recent history. Most of them have been days of financial panic. There has been none of blacker foreboding than last Friday. And the blackness is not loss or fear of loss in stocks and bonds. It is the blackness of loss of home, the blackness of exile and suffering and the peril of death. But that which deepens the darkness that has come upon the earth in the broad daylight of the twentieth century is civilization's prompt acceptance of the Turks' decree of banishment not only of a million Greeks, but incidentally of all Christian minorities within the Turkish realm beyond the Hellespont, which the Aryan crossed over three thousand years ago.

December 4, 1922
The New York Times
Page 16, Col. 3

THE STATESMANSHIP OF EXTERMINATION.

What The Times thinks about the morality of the Turkish plan to drive every Greek and Armenian out of Turkey--which means that a great many of them will die or be murdered on the way, and that others will fall victims to famine or pestilence in their places of refuge--has already been said. It has been pointed out, too, that the serious thing is not so much the morality of the Turk, which has been fairly well known to the world for several centuries but that of the so-called Christian Powers which stood by and were consenting.

The British Government protested in the name of humanity when the Greek revolutionaries shot a group of ex-Ministers and Generals. But when the Turks announce that a million Greeks are to be expelled from the country where they have lived since two thousand years before the Turks were heard of, and driven out to die, Lord Curzon's moral scruples are satisfied with a request for two weeks delay. Politicians it seems can be knocked by killings only when the victims are other politicians.

After the war, there were 850.000 Greeks still living in Turkey (adding the people living at East Thrace the total number is 1.172.635). They wanted to stay in their homes. But after the exchange agreement in the Lausanne Treaty which took place in 1923, all the Greeks were moved to Greece. Some of them couldn't even speak Greek. Only the community in Constantinople, Imvros and Tenedos were given permission to stay. The total number of Greeks left in Turkey in 1924 were 300.000.

Today turks managed with their methods and the silent approval of great powers to exterminate every trace of greek presence in the area. Now, only 1500 greeks (Rum) live in the place which is called today Turkey.