The Pontic Greeks were driven on the same death marches by the Turks, along with the Assyrians, as they lived in more inland areas. The Ionians had the best chance for escape, as they lived on the western coastal region, though many were still slaughtered - even into the 1920s (most notably at the burning/massacre of Smyrna (Izmir to the Turks) in 1922.

This era of atrocities continues to be referred to as "The Armenian Genocide", but in reality the Turks targeted all minority groups which were Christian, and killed or displaced millions of Armenians, Ionian and Pontic Greeks as well as Christian Assyrians.

This bitter dispute is rooted in a violent period of world history, as Europe and much of the Middle East was torn apart by World War I, in the declining years of the Ottoman Empire.