Family of Syrian boy washed up on beach were trying to reach Canada

The family of a three-year-old Syrian boy whose body was washed up on a beach in Turkey were making a final, desperate attempt to flee to relatives in Canada even though their asylum application had been rejected, according to reports.

Syria was already at war when Aylan Kurdi was born. He died with his five-year-old brother, Galip, and mother, Rehan. Their father, Abdullah, survived.

Speaking to Canadian press on Wednesday (2/9) night, the family said Abdullah Kurdi had phoned them to tell them his wife and sons were dead, and now only wanted to return to their Kurdish hometown of Kobani to bury his family. The town was bombarded by heavy fighting earlier this year between Islamic State and Kurdish fighters.

Pictures have emerged of the two brothers, a laughing Aylan and Galip holding a teddy bear in a pink dress, as well as another of the pair standing together on a sofa, with Galip’s arm around his small brother.

Their aunt Teema Kurdi, a hairdresser in Vancouver, heard the news from her brother Mohammad’s wife, Ghuson. “She had got a call from Abdullah, and all he said was, my wife and two boys are dead,” she told the National Post.

“I was trying to sponsor them, and I have my friends and my neighbours who helped me with the bank deposits, but we couldn’t get them out, and that is why they went in the boat.

“I was even paying rent for them in Turkey, but it is horrible the way they treat Syrians there.”

Kurdi, who emigrated to Canada more than two decades ago, said she had privately sponsored a refugee application for the family to come and join her in Canada, but the application had been rejected.

Her account was confirmed by her local MP, Fin Donnelly, who told the paper that he had personally delivered Kurdi’s application to the immigration minister, Chris Alexander.

The application made by Kurdi, if successful, allows refugees to move to Canada if they have the sponsorship of at least five Canadian citizens, on the condition those citizens provide financial and emotional support.

Only applicants who have been formally designated refugees can apply, and many Syrian Kurds have reported difficulties getting their applications processed in UNHCR camps in Turkey. Turkey will also not issue exit visas to refugees if they do not have official status.

The two young brothers and their mother were among at least 12 Syrians who died on the boat headed for Greece.

The boat was part of a flotilla of small dinghies, boarded by passengers at Akyarlar, the closest point to the Greek Aegean island of Kos.

It overturned in calm waters, overloaded by the 17 passengers. Bodies washed up on the shore in Ali Hoca Point beach in Bodrum. Another dinghy, also carrying a further 16 people, is also known to have capsized.

The Turkish coastguard said five children and a woman had died when the boat capsized, and another three people were still missing. Helicopters helped rescue another 15 people.

This week, the Turkish coastguard said it had rescued over 42,000 people in the Aegean Sea in the first five months of 2015 and 2,160 in the last week. More than 100 were pulled from the sea on Wednesday night alone, trying to reach Kos, the coastguard told AFP.

Source: theguardian.com