Turkish forces massacred 450.000 Greek civilians in areas where they comprised a majority. specifically. on the Black Sea coast. in Pontus. and the Smyrna region. Smyrna was the largest city in Asia Minor and a cosmopolitan hub populated by a highly educated Greek community and flourishing commercial and middle classes. In September 1922. the city was sacked and burned to the ground. and its Greek and Armenian inhabitants along with refugees from the countryside were slaughtered by Turkish forces. Western diplomats and journalists stationed in U.S. and European ships offshore compared the devastation to that of Carthage. Metropolitan Chrysostomos. the spiritual leader of the Orthodox Christians in Smyrna who refused to abandon the city. was seized from religious services in the cathedral by the Turkish police and was turned over to be dismembered by a street mob.
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refugees