Turkish Coast Guards on Monday captured 60 migrants including an unknown number of Gambians on a boat that was trying to reach the Greek island of Lesbos from Ayvacik district of the western province of Canakkale.
The migrants also included nationals from Syria, Congo, Mali, Ghana and Nigeria, a Coast Guard source said, adding they were referred to the local repatriation center.
Turkey and the EU signed a refugee deal in March 2016, which aimed to discourage irregular migration through the Aegean Sea by taking stricter measures against human traffickers and improving the conditions of nearly three million Syrian refugees in Turkey.
Since then, the number of refugees caught crossing the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece has fallen by 85 percent, according to the Turkish Coast Guard.
