[7] It was perpetrated by irregular Turkish bands against the predominantly ethnic Greek[8] town of Phocaea, modern Foça, on the east coast of the Aegean Sea.

[9] The massacre was part of a wider anti-Greek campaign of genocide launched by the Young Turk Ottoman authorities, which included boycott, intimidation, forced deportations and mass killings;[10] and was one of the worst attacks during the summer of 1914.

The Greek communities of the Aegean region of Anatolia and Eastern Thrace were targeted, facing boycott, intimidation, attacks by irregulars and massacre.

[16] In the Aidin Vilayet, on the Aegean coast of Anatolia, a total of 8,000–10,000 armed irregulars (bashi-bazouks) were operating as part of this campaign.

According to reports submitted by the Danish consul of nearby Smyrna, Alfred Van de Zee, these groups were financed and run by the Ottoman state.

[12] During early June 1914, Turkish irregular bands looted the villages south of Menemen, causing the Greek populations to flee.

[7] The armed groups broke into several dwellings and shot their inhabitants, irrespective of age and sex, while apart from the killings, several rapes also occurred.

[18] The amount of the looted property was so extensive and widespread that even irregular groups who didn't participate in the massacre and the destruction took part in the share.

[6] He also eyewitness packed camels climbing the mountains through the roads connecting Eski Foça to outside while they were full with the plunder taken from the town.

[6] In addition, the German reporter, Harry Stuermer, who was the correspondent of Kölnische Zeitung newspaper and was usually sympathetic to Turkish authorities later saw the town's "smoking ruins".

The people of Marseille, which was founded by Phocaeans circa 600 BC, raised a sum of 20,000 French francs to support the refugees.

[26] Similar activity was also carried out by Turkish irregular bands against several other settlements in western Anatolia, while on one occasion almost all inhabitants of the village of Serekieuy, near Menemen, were killed after local Greeks armed themselves for resistance.

With the outbreak of World War I, the Ottoman policies against the Greek communities took a more violent and systematic form and affected a more extensive area, including also the Pontus in northern Anatolia.