The term 'Anatolia' comes from Greek word "anatoli". It means 'East'. The region is called east because according to the Greek world, Mikra Asia was the eastlands that was waiting to be discovered. When Anatolia was started to be colonized by the Greeks, it was populated by little tribes. Especially, after Alexander the Great, the region was nearly occupied by Greeks or Hellenized tribes.

The Greeks lived in Anatolia since today are the anchestors of them. Before the first world war, there were at least 2.700.000 Greeks living in Anatolia. Today, this population is less than 5.000.

The Greeks in Istanbul, have a long and important history of their church. The patriarchate in Istanbul had been founded just after the establishment of the city, in 4th century. The language of the church was ancient Greek. The progress of the church was depply depentent to the enlargment of the Empire to the East and conflicts with the Rome government. After the victories of the Muslim army against the Byzans Empire, the church lost its power at the east. After the Crusaders captured Constantinople in 1204, the Patriachate was invaded by the leaders of the Latin Church.

After the conquest of the city by Mehmet the 2nd, the Royal Church was given a status of the Church of the Orthodox People of Ottoman Goverment. The church was given all the rights to apply the religious acts and rules. The patriarch has the name Ethnarch, which means the head of a nation. The Greeks in Ottoman Empire has the position millet in Turkish which means nation, or ethnos.

The Greeks in Ottoman Empire had an important role in the government. Many Greeks gained important positions. Greek merchants prospered a lot and they had important positions in the intellectual life. This lasted till the First World War. After the party Ittihad ve Terakki(which means Unity and Progress) gained the power, they started to impose nationalist ideas like panturkism. 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 East Anatolia. By the end of the war, after the Ottoman Empire was defeated in the war, the Greek Army,with the licence from the countrys of the Alliance,invaded Izmir(Smyrna) and started to march deep into Anatolia.At the same time Turkish troops were killing Greek men,women and children.The destruction lasted till 9 October 1922 when the Greek army fled away from Izmir.

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 all the Greeks were moved to Greece. Some of them could'nt even speak Greek. Only the community in Istanbul, Imros and Bozcaada were given permission to stay. The total number of Greeks left in Turkey in 1924 were 200.000.