The first boats arrived earlier than expected.
Hundreds of press waited at the port to capture the pictures of the first deportees.
The EU is desperate to solve the migrant crisis and has so far come up short - it hopes its controversial deal with Turkey will stop the seemingly endless tide of desperate people appearing on Europe's shores.
But it has appeared over the last few days that both sides were unprepared for this day - tents were hastily erected on the dockside at Dikili to create a makeshift reception centre.
The first arrivals were mostly from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq.
Among their number there were a couple of Syrians, who the authorities claim decided to leave Greece voluntarily.
Under the deal the non-Syrians will be taken to a detention centre and will most likely eventually be deported to their country of origin.
The Syrians will be found places in refugee camps on the Turkey/Syrian border.
We watched as the deportees were marched down the dock.
Each one of them had a security guard or a policeman by their side.
The minder had travelled with them from Lesbos.
The first pictures of the failed asylum seekers being kicked out of Europe are symbolically important to the EU and for the success of the deal.
It hopes that other migrants thinking of crossing illegally will be deterred if they know they'll be deported as soon as they've reached dry land.
But there are already signs it's not having that effect.
We filmed 50 or so migrants from Bangladesh, who'd tried to cross illegally this morning.
They were intercepted and arrested by the Turkish coastguard.
But we have spoken to many other migrants in Turkey, who say they will continue to try to reach Europe for what they hope will be a better life.
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