The Allied powers sanctioned and oversaw the planning of the operation and assisted by directing their forces to take over some key locations and moving warships to the Smyrna harbor.

[12] When the Italians left the meeting in protest over other issues, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George and Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos pushed a concocted report in the peace negotiations alleging that the Christian populations were under direct threat to convince France and the U.S. to support a Greek takeover of the Aidin Vilayet centered in Smyrna.

While negotiations were still in progress, Venizelos informed Clemenceau of the deterioration of the situation in Aidin Vilayet, where the local governor, Nureddin Pasha, was ordering Muslim groups to commit excesses against the Greek population.

[14] Under this context, the British Prime Minister and the Foreign Office were the main supporters of the Greek landing, with the purpose "to restore public order and forestall the massacres".

[15] The Society for the Defense of Ottoman Rights in Smyrna[16][17] (İzmir Müdafaa-i Hukuk-ı Osmaniye Cemiyeti) was organized to prepare for the arrival of Greek troops.

On the afternoon of May 11, 1919, the Commander of the 1st Infantry Division of the Hellenic Army, positioned in Kavala, Colonel Nikolaos Zafeiriou, received orders for the operation.

The next morning, the landing force, consisting of 13,000 soldiers, as well as auxiliary personnel, 14 transport ships and escorted by 3 British and 4 Greek destroyers, headed to Smyrna.

Smith reports that this news was "received with great emotion" by the Greek population of the city while thousands of Turkish residents gathered in the hill that night lighting fires and beating drums in protest.

[13] A colonel, who had neither the will nor the prestige to force himself relentlessly on his men, was in charge of the operation and neither the appointed High Commissioner nor high-ranking military individuals were there for the landing, resulting in miscommunication and a breakdown of discipline.

Allied officers in the harbor reported seeing Greek troops bayoneting multiple Turkish prisoners during the march and then saw them thrown into the sea.

[21][24] Donald Whittall, a British citizen and one of the few neutral observers during the landing, remarked about the treatment of Turkish prisoners, "They were made to go through no humiliation and received a good deal".

Kaur saw that a "bulky" priest, Chrysostomos of Smyrna, with a cross in one hand and a knife in the other executed a Turkish soldier in front of the Greek civilian crowd cheering in Cafe Foti (Klonaridis).

[13] The Inter-Allied Commission of Inquiry reported that: On 15 and 16 May, countless acts of violence and looting targeted at the Turkish people and their homes took place in the town.

[8] He however mentions that his estimate on the evening of the landing was inaccurate and stated that if he made his statement a week later he would have given 800-1000 Turks killed only in the center of Smyrna on the first day.

I had ample confirmation of this, for some days following the occupation, as my only road into the city lay through the Turkish quarter and along the quay from in front of the Konak to the U.S. Consulate.

Every morning these naked bodies were strewn here and there along the water front awaiting burial, and my attention was called to others washed up on the south shore along towards Karataş.MacLachlan's claim is also verified by Kaur.

[27] The Greek army from the first started showing the signs that they had not come for a temporary occupation but rather for a permanent annexation; to incorporate western Anatolia into Greece.

After the initial shock of the landing, Turkish groups started retaliating by committing excesses against the civilian Greek communities residing outside of the occupation zone.

[14] While there were large demonstrations against Allied Forces in Istanbul, in Anatolia the first armed clash between Turks and Greeks occurred on 28 May at Ödemiş.

[29] On the other hand it fuelled the Turkish nationalist movement under Mustafa Kemal and large scale atrocities against the Pontic Greek population in Eastern Anatolia.