Izmir is a province of Turkey in the western Anatolia on the Aegean coast. On the west it is surrounded by Aegean sea, and it encloses the Izmir Gulf (in Turkish İzmir Körfezi). Its area is 11.811 square kms. The area was first settled by Ionian Greeks in about the 11th century BC who established the city of Smyrna now Izmir city. It was later conquered by the Persians, retaken by the Greeks, before being subsumed into the Roman Empire. After the split of the Roman Empire, the area became part of the Byzantine Empire until conquered by the Ottoman Turks in the 14th century . Following the First World War the province was ceded to Greece , but was retaken by the forces of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in the Turkish War Of Independence . A highly controversial point involved massive genocide of Turkish civillians by Greek Soldiers, and of Greek civillians by Turkish soldiers. As a result of the Treaty of Lausanne all non-Turkish and non-Muslim inhabitants of the province had to leave, and Izmir province was incorporated into the modern republic of Turkey.
More information