Izmit massacre

The Izmit massacre occurred on 24 June 1921 in the town of Izmit, Turkey. It was a mass killing of some 300 Turkish civilians by the retreating Greek army. It happened during the Greek-Turkish war of 1919-1922. British journalist Arnold Toynbee landed at the town after the Greek retreat and saw the aftermath.

Background

The French college (St. Barbara) where several thousand people took refuge.

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. The Turkish nationalists were opposed to join Greece and fought against the Greek troops in the surrounding of the town. Then the Greek army decided to retreat in June 1921. The local Christians also fled with the Greek army and lost their non movable 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 back to the town.