Greek refugees is a collective term used to refer to the nearly one million Greek Orthodox natives of Asia Minor , Thrace and the Black Sea areas who fled during the Greek genocide ( 1914-1923 ) and Greece 's later defeat in the Greco-Turkish War ( 1919 – 1922 ) , as well as remaining Greek Orthodox inhabitants of Turkey who were required to leave their homes for Greece shortly thereafter as part of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey , which formalized the population transfer and barred the return of the refugees . This Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations was signed in Lausanne , on January 30 , 1923 as part of the peace treaty between Greece and Turkey and required all remaining Orthodox Christians in Turkey , regardless of what language they spoke , be relocated to Greece with the exception of those in Istanbul and two nearby islands . Although the term has been used in various times to refer to fleeing populations of Greek descent ( primarily after the Ionian Revolt , the Fall of Constantinople or the Greek Civil War ) , the population strength and the influence of the Asia Minor Greeks in Greece itself , has attached the term to the Anatolian Greek population of the early 20th century . At least 300,000 Greek refugees were from Eastern Thrace , whereas at least 900,000 were from Asia Minor . At least 150,000 were from Istanbul , who left the city in three years before 1928
Greek genocide
Greek genocide
Greek refugees