Anatolia remained multi-ethnic until the early 20th century ( see the rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire ) . During World War I , the Armenian Genocide , the Greek genocide ( especially in Pontus ) , and the Assyrian genocide almost entirely removed the ancient indigenous communities of Armenian , Greek , and Assyrian populations in Anatolia and surrounding regions . Following the Greco-Turkish War of 1919 – 1922 , most remaining ethnic Anatolian Greeks were forced out during the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey . Many more have left Turkey since , leaving fewer than 5,000 Greeks in Anatolia today . Since the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 , Anatolia has been within Turkey , its inhabitants being mainly Turks and Kurds ( see demographics of Turkey and history of Turkey )
Greek genocide
Greek genocide
Anatolia