 In general it accepted the Greek claims that Turkish troops massacred more than 12,000 local civilians, while 2,500 were missing and stated that the atrocities committed by the Turks in the Izmit peninsula ""have been more considerable and ferocious than those on the part of the Greeks"".Ethnic cleansing policies undertaken by the Ottoman government were launched in various regions of the Ottoman Empire, including the Izmit region as early as 1915.This included the massive deportation of local Greek and Armenian communities.