Izmit massacre

Izmit was a coastal Ottoman town with a mixed population of Turks, Greeks and others. In the last years of the Ottoman Empire, it was occupied by the Greek Army in 1920. The local Greeks wanted to join Greece. Turkish nationalists opposed the idea and fought the Greek troops in the town's surroundings. 

The Greek Army decided to retreat in June 1921. The local Christians also fled with the Greek army and lost their nonmovable property.

Before the Greeks left, they looted the Turks, partly burned the town, burned some surrounding villages and desecrated the mosques of Izmit. On 24 June, they killed more than 300 people in the cemetery. Thousands of Turks hid in the French college to find safety.

Izmit was occupied by the Turkish Army on 28 June 1921. Most of the Christians never returned to the town.

References

Category:1921
Category:Massacres in Turkey
Category:History of Turkey