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Greek Lawmaker Accuses Ankara of Violating Migrant Readmission Deal

© REUTERS / Umit BektasRefugees and migrants sit on board of Turkish Coast Guard Search and Rescue ship Umut-703 off the shores of Izmir, Turkey, after a failed attempt of crossing to the Greek island of Chios, February 28, 2016.
Refugees and migrants sit on board of Turkish Coast Guard Search and Rescue ship Umut-703 off the shores of Izmir, Turkey, after a failed attempt of crossing to the Greek island of Chios, February 28, 2016. - Sputnik International
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Turkey failed to control people smugglers, which makes the payment of additional funding unnecessary, as well as speeding up the payment of 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) promised in November, according to a Greek member of the European Parliament.

President of the European Council Donald Tusk - Sputnik International
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Turkey has been violating its existing deal with Greece on readmission of irregular migrants, a Greek member of the European Parliament told Sputnik on Tuesday, after Ankara struck a similar agreement with the European Union.

On Monday, the Turkey-EU summit on migration took place in Brussels. Turkey pledged to take back all undocumented migrants that had arrived to the European Union and send in their place legal Syrian refugees to the bloc on one-for-one basis in exchange for the acceleration of visa liberalization negotiations and EU accession talks.

"There is already a bilateral agreement between Greece and Turkey providing for the readmission of irregular migrants, but Turkey is violating it continuously, practically refusing almost any readmission. We shall see if things can be different now that the Turkish promises will be given to EU as a whole," Kostas Chrysogonos said.

Refugees and migrants arrive on a dinghy at the port of Mytilene, on the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey, on February 18, 2016 - Sputnik International
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According to Chrysogonos, Turkey failed to control people smugglers, which makes the payment of additional funding unnecessary, as well as speeding up the payment of 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) promised in November.

Brussels and Ankara drafted the EU-Turkey action plan in November 2015, under which EU member states pledged to pay Turkey 3 billion euros over the next two years and fast-track Ankara’s EU accession talks in exchange for efforts to limit migrant arrivals.

A final agreement between the EU and Turkey is expected by the next summit on March 17-18.

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