On 28 May, Greeks landed in Ayvalık, which, since the Balkan Wars, had become a Greek speaking region. The Muslim inhabitants who were forced out with the extending borders of Greece, mainly from Crete, settled in this area. Under an old Ottoman Lieutenant Colonel Ali Çetinkaya, these people formed a unit. Along with Ali Çetinkaya's units, the population in the region gathered around Reşit, Tevfik, and Çerkes Ethem. These units were very determined to fight against Greece as there was no other place that they could be pushed back. Reşit, Tevfik, and Ethem were of Circassian origin who were expelled from their ancestral lands in the Caucasus by the Russians. They settled around the Aegean coast. Greek troops first met with these irregulars. Mustafa Kemal asked Admiral Rauf Orbay if he could help in coordinating the units under Ali Çetinkaya, Reşit, Tevfik, and Çerkez Ethem. Rauf Orbay—also of Circassian origin—managed to link these groups. He asked them to cut the Greek logistic support lines.