It is May 15, 1919, when at 7:30 a.m. the Greek warships Patris and Atronitos moor at the port of Izmir and soldiers of the Efzon Regiment go ashore. The occupation of the large economic metropolis was decided during the peace negotiations in Paris, although it had previously been awarded to Italy in a secret agreement. The Greek residents of Izmir had come to the harbor promenade that day to welcome the Greek army. The occupation of Anatolia was a turning point for the Turkish population.
The Greek armed forces, with the support of local Greek militias, committed genocide against the Turkish Muslim civilian population. Entire towns and villages were completely destroyed. Fearing the approaching Greek army, tens of thousands of Turkish civilians fled to other regions. According to the Greek government, western Anatolia was to be emptied of its Turkish population. To achieve this goal, Greek settlers were brought from the Greek mainland and the islands to Anatolia and the central bank in Athens granted the settlers bank loans at low interest rates.
According to historians, the number of Turkish civilians killed by the Greek army is between 300,000 and 650,000. To this day, Greece denies the genocide of the Turkish-Muslim civilian population of 1919-1922 in Anatolia. In Turkish and Azerbaijani historiography, the term technicus Mezalim has become established for mass violent crimes against the Muslim civilian population.