ATHENS, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Greek authorities have returned a total of 11,945 migrants to their home countries so far this year, according to an e-mailed press statement released by Greek police on Friday.
During November this year 1,009 persons were repatriated either under the voluntary program run by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), or involuntarily returned after their bids for asylum, for example, had been rejected.
Among these 1,009 individuals, 490 were Albanian nationals, 141 Iraqis, 94 from Pakistan, 68 from Georgia and 22 from Turkey, according to statistics from the police.
Since early 2015, more than one million refugees and migrants had reached Greece and continued their journey to other European countries until the closure of borders along the Balkan corridor in the winter of 2016.
The influx, although dramatically reduced, continues. Currently about 60,000 refugees and migrants remain stranded in Greece at dozens of reception centers and camps as well as hundreds of rented apartments across the country, according to the Greek Migration Policy ministry.
