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Greece deports mostly Pakistanis in first wave of migrants in EU-Turkey pact

Ankara will take back all migrants and refugees who enter Greece illegally, including Syrians, in return for the EU taking in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey

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A Turkish police officer escorts a migrant who was deported from Greece in disputed EU scheme to shut down the human smuggling route across the Aegean Sea. Photo: AFP

Three boats shipped scores of migrants from the Greek islands to Turkey on Monday, the first wave of deportations under a hotly-contested pact to ease Europe’s worst migration crisis since the second world war.

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As the sun rose over the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios, some 200 migrants, mainly from Pakistan and Bangladesh, were ferried back across the Aegean Sea, retracing the perilous journey they took on rickety boats in their desperation to reach Europe.

European Union officials are hoping the deal with Ankara will discourage migrants from making a trek that has claimed hundreds of lives and curb a human influx which has badly strained the 28-nation bloc.

Yorgos Kyritsis, the Greek government’s migration spokesman, said 136 migrants had left from Lesbos, and 66 from Chios.

A small ferry carrying migrants deported from Greece arrives in Turkey. Photo: AFP
A small ferry carrying migrants deported from Greece arrives in Turkey. Photo: AFP
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“These are migrants who did not request asylum in Greece. The majority were Pakistani. There were two Syrians who did not request asylum for personal reasons,” he said.

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