In March 1915, Greek massacres were perpetrated by Young Turks in surroundings of Smyrna (presently Izmir), Ottoman Turkey. Ethnic cleansing of Greeks was actively carried out by Turkish nationalists headed by Mustafa Atatürk during 1919–22 Greco-Turkish War.
According to various sources, several hundred thousand Ottoman Greeks died during this period. Other sources put the number at around 2 million. Some of the survivors and refugees, especially those in Eastern provinces, took refuge in the neighboring Russian Empire.
After the end of the Greco-Turkish War, most of the Greeks remaining in the Ottoman Empire were transferred to Greece under the terms of the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey.
Pontian Genocide has officially been recognized only by Greece, Cyprus, Armenia and the U.S. state of New York.
May 19 is the day chosen to commemorate the experiences of Pontians during the Greek Genocide.
