"As from the Ist May, 1923, there shall take place a compulsory exchange of Turkish nationals of the Greek Orthodox Religion established in Turkish territory, and of Greek nationals of the Moslem religion established in Greek territory".(Article 1, Treaty of Lausanne).

Thus, well over one million ethnic Greeks from Asia minor and Pontus were deported by the Turkish government while 500,000 Muslims from the Greek region of Macedonia left Greece to settle in Turkey. This was a tragic example of ethnic cleansing.

Regarding the Asia Minor Greeks Winston Churchill wrote in 1928:"Turkey lost a great mass of citizens who had for centuries played a vital part in the economic life of everyTurkish village and township." (The World Crises, Aftermath. XIX Chanak, The Treaty of Lausanne.1929. Easton Press. Norwalk, Connecticut.)

Churchill also referred to the presence of Greeks in Smyrna, Asia minor before the city was conquered by the Turkish army in September 1922: "Smyrna and portions of it's littoral had been populated extensively by Greeks for thousands of years. It's prosperity was largely attributable to their intelligence and to their industry and agriculture". (The World Crises, Aftermath. XVII Turkey alive, Insurgence and Paralysis. 1929. Easton Press. Norwalk, Connecticut.)

The New York Times noted on January 11, 1923: "In the name of peace and justice 1,000,000 men, women, and children are to be torn from their homes and forcibly taken to other lands. Such was the remarkable decision taken today by this remarkable Near East conference".

Further on, the same Times article noted that Greece opposed the forced expulsion not only of Turkey's Greeks, but the Moslems of Greece". The Times stated: "That there must be no misunderstanding, it must be plain that this extraordinary step is due entirely and exclusively to the Turk's determination to expel the Greeks from their country. It wasonly after this determination became plain that the Greeks demanded that the Turks in Greece be expelled in order to make room for the Greeks who must leave Turkey, where their forefathers in many cases, had lived for many centuries."

Finally, one last commentary made in 1922 needs to be cited,especially in light of what was to later occur to the Greek population of Constantinople. Two statements by George Horton, onetime American Consulate General of Smyrna are interesting. "The regime of the Greeks in Asia Minor was the only civilized and beneficient regime which that country has seen since historic times". SUBJECT: The Near East Question. By the American Consul General to Smyrna George Horton to The Secretary of State Washington. September 27, 1922.

Furthermore, Mr. Horton went on to describe Turkish atrocities and was adamantly opposed to allowing the Turkish army into Constantinople, then occupied by the western powers:"...I see no reason why the Turks should massacre Armenians and Greeks, in the Pontus, in Armenia and Asia minor, and give them a kindly and benevolent reign" in Constantinople". SUBJECT: The near east question. By the American Consul General to Smyrna George Horton to the Secretary of State Washington.September 27, 1922.

Mr. Horton further stated the following when he heard the powers in occupation of Constantinople would allow Kemal Ataturk's armies to enter: "The native Christians do well to leave, such of them as can get away, for even if measures are taken to prevent a savage massacre on the arrival of the Kemalist troops, the life of the Christians will be intolerable and unsafe and massacres will surely be perpetrated from time to time in the future." SUBJECT: The near east question. By the American Consul General to Smyrna George Horton to the Secretary of State Washington. September 27, 1922.

As will be shown further, George Horton would prove to be prophetic with his comments about massacres in the future. I consider it proper regarding the Greeks of Turkey today, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate to place their tragic situation in the proper context regarding the historic events which created this situation. Indeed, the origins of the nearly extinct Greek community in old Constantinople have it's roots in the events noted above as well as the events in part B.