İzmit massacres
The İzmit massacres were atrocities committed in the region of İzmit, Turkey, during the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) which took place during the Greek genocide. An Inter-Allied Commission of Enquiry that investigated the incidents, submitted a report, on 1 June 1921, about the events. In general it is accepted that the Turkish troops massacred more than 12,000 local civilians, while 2,500 were missing and stated that the atrocities committed by the Turks in the Izmit peninsula "have been more considerable and ferocious than those on the part of the Greeks." Background. Ethnic cleansing policies undertaken by  the Ottoman government were launched in various regions of the Ottoman Empire, including the Izmit region as early as 1915. This included the massive deportation of local Greek and Armenian communities. In 1915, The New York Times reported that 19,000 Greeks from the Izmit province had been uprooted from their homes and driven to purely Turkish districts. The Armenian Metropolitan of Izmit, Stephan Hovakimian stated, that, of the 80,000 Armenians belonging to his Diocese, 70,000 had been lost in exile, succumbing to hunger and exhaustion from long marches, and the slaughter of men and women upon arrival at their destination . Later, in 1918, after the Armistice of Mudros a number of attacks by nationalist bands against the local Christian population were reported. Incidents. This violence increased against the local Greek population, from March 1920 and especially during June–July 1920, when the advance of the Hellenic Army in the region was imminent. These groups were operating as far as Üsküdar, while some of them were organized by the Turkish Nationalist Movement. As a result of this activity, several villages of the region were burnt and their inhabitants killed, especially in the regions south, north and northeast of Adapazarı, as well  as south and southeast of Iznik. The presence of the Hellenic Army in the region from July 1920, limited the activity of the Turkish bands, although in Karamürsel, south of the Gulf of İzmit, some Turkish nationalist groups were still attacking surrounding villages inhabited by Greek populations. Later, the Hellenic Army in the region, was accused of supporting assaults against some villages east of Beykoz. Accusations included the killing of civilians and the burning of small settlements. Accusations also included violence perpetrated by local Greek civilians who had previously suffered from Turkish atrocities From the spring of 1921, the activity  of the Turkish bands increased in the region extending geographically to the south of Izmit, which resulted in the destruction of the Christian villages there. Evacuation of Izmit. In the early summer of 1921, due to the developments of the ongoing Greco-Turkish War, the retreat of the Hellenic Army was imminent. The Christian population had become panic-stricken fearing a wholesale massacre by the Kemalists, so it was decided that the civilians were to be evacuated. As a result, a total of 22,000 inhabitants who had sought refuge in the city during the Hellenic occupation in addition to the  ca. 10,000 Greek and Armenian inhabitants of the city who wished to be evacuated in order to avoid persecution by the Turkish nationalist movement, left the area. According to the British High Commission, 33,000 people were evacuated. Of these, approximately 21,000 were Greeks, 9,000 were Armenians, and 3,000 were Turks and Circassians. They were distributed as follows:- Aftermath. An Inter-Allied Commission of Enquiry that investigated the incidents in the region generally accepted the claims by Greek authorities that 32 villages had been looted or burned, and that more than 12,000 local civilians had been massacred by Turkish forces, and  2,500 were missing. The Commission accepted these figures as "fundamentally true, notwithstanding a certain amount of exaggeration in the figures". According to British journalist and latter historian, Arnold Toynbee, as a result of the activities of the Hellenic Army and irregulars, up to 300 persons were killed. Toynbee in general omits to notice the conclusion of the Allied commission. Moreover, Winston Churchill, stated that the Greek atrocities were "on a minor scale" compared to the "appalling deportations of Greeks from the Trebizond and Samsun provinces", which were undertaken by the Turkish nationalists in the same year. Partial list of affected  settlements. The Allied commission concluded that 35 villages in the region were affected due to the activity of Turkish nationalist bands. A partial list of the villages according to Greek reports: