Evacuation of Ayvalik
The evacuation of Ayvalik took place in May 1917 as part of the genocide policies of the Ottoman government. The population of the predominantly Greek-inhabited town of Ayvalik, Ottoman Empire (in modern Turkey) on the east coast of the Aegean Sea was forcibly deported to the hinterland of Anatolia by the Ottoman authorities. The deportation was organized by Imperial German Army General and chief military adviser to the Ottoman Empire, Liman von Sanders, and included death marches, looting, torture and massacre against the local civilian population.
| Greek genocide | |
|---|---|
| Background | |
| Young Turk Revolution, Ottoman Greeks, Pontic Greeks, Ottoman Empire | |
| The genocide | |
| Labour Battalions, Death march, Massacre of Phocaea, Evacuation of Ayvalik, İzmit massacres, Samsun deportations, Amasya trials, Burning of Smyrna | |
| Foreign aid and relief | |
| Relief Committee for Greeks of Asia Minor, American Committee for Relief in the Near East | |
| Responsible parties | |
| Young Turks or Committee of Union and Progress Three Pashas: Talat, Enver, Djemal Bahaeddin Şakir, Teskilati Mahsusa or Special Organization, Nureddin Pasha, Topal Osman, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk | |
| See also | |
| Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922), Greeks in Turkey, Population Exchange, Greek refugees, Armenian genocide, Sayfo, Istanbul trials of 1919–1920, Malta Tribunals | |
Persecution against the population of the predominantly Greek-inhabited settlement of Aivalik on the east coast of the Aegean had begun in 1910. In 1917, during World War I although nearby Greece was still a neutral state, the ethnic Greek population of the Ottoman state was viewed as an internal threat and genocide policies continued to be implemented.