Father of dead Syrian boys: 'All I want is to be with my children'

[webfact]

Father of dead boys: 'All I want is to be with my children'
By SUZAN FRASER and GREGORY KATZ

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — He is one among many, far too many. But the plight of one boy, washed up like a piece of debris on a Turkish beach, has focused the world's attention on a wave of war-and-deprivation-fueled migration unmatched since World War II.

Aylan Kurdi, 3, was found on a Turkish beach in sneakers, blue shorts and a red shirt after the small rubber boat he and his family were in capsized in a desperate voyage from Turkey to Greece.

Aylan died along with 5-year-old brother Galip and his mother, Rehan, leaving their distraught father, Abdullah, to cope with his sudden, overwhelming loss. He said Thursday he wanted one thing and one thing only: to sit by the graves of his wife and children.

"My kids were the most beautiful children in the world, wonderful. They wake me up every morning to play with them. They are all gone now," he said.

A Canadian legislator said the family, fleeing the conflict in Syria, had been turned down in a bid for legal entry to Canada even though it had close relatives there offering financial backing and shelter, but Canada's Department of Citizenship and Immigration later denied that assertion.

"There was no record of an application received for Mr. Abdullah Kurdi and his family," the department said in a statement, indicating that a bid for another member of the family, Mohammad Kurdi, had been returned as incomplete.

Tima Kurdi of Vancouver, who is Abdullah's sister, initially told Canadian media that the family had embarked on the perilous boat journey only after its bid was rejected. She later said, however, that no formal request for refugee status had been made on Abdullah Kurdi's behalf, saying one was filed, and rejected, on another relative's behalf. She also gave a different transliteration for the boys' names, calling them Alan and Galib.

Accounts of events changed several times Thursday as information flowed in from several parts of the world.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said some early accounts contained inaccurate information.

Describing the tragedy, Abdullah Kurdi said the overloaded boat flipped over moments after the captain, described as a Turkish man, panicked and abandoned the vessel, leaving Abdullah as the de facto commander of a small boat overmatched by high seas.

"I took over and started steering. The waves were so high and the boat flipped. I took my wife and my kids in my arms and I realized they were all dead," he said.

In a police statement later leaked to the Turkish news agency Dogan, Abdullah Kurdi gave a different account, denying that a smuggler was aboard. However, smugglers often instruct migrants that if caught they should deny their presence and it was unclear whether he had been trying to protect a smuggler's identity in his statement to police.

The distraught father, who worked as a barber in Syria, added wistfully: "All I want is to be with my children at the moment."

Abdullah Kurdi said the boat, headed for the Greek island of Kos, was only at sea for four minutes before the captain abandoned the vessel and its 12 passengers.

The route between Bodrum in Turkey and Kos, just a few miles, is one of the shortest from Turkey to the Greek islands, but it remains dangerous. Hundreds of people a day try to cross it despite the well-documented risks.

Tima Kurdi's husband, Rocco Logozzo, told The Canadian Press that Abudllah Kurdi told his sister that both boys were wearing lifejackets when the boat capsized but that the protective gear somehow slipped off when the boat flipped.

He said the family had enough money and room in his home to have provided for their relatives in Syria but hadn't been able to do because the bid was rejected by a system that was designed to fail.

The family lost all hope when the application was denied in June and made the "bad" choice to try to get to Europe by boat, he said.

Earlier, Tima Kurdi had told the Ottawa Citizen that the application for refugee status had been rejected. She later contradicted this account when she said no formal bid for refugee status had been made.

Her relatives lived in the Syrian town of Kobani, which was devastated by battles between Islamic State militants and Kurdish fighters, said Canadian lawmaker Fin Donnelly.

He had told The Canadian Press that he had submitted the application on the family's behalf.

Canadian immigration authorities rejected the application, in part because of the family's lack of exit visas for their departure from Turkey and their lack of internationally recognized refugee status, the aunt told the Ottawa Citizen.

Canada's Immigration Minister Chris Alexander suspended his re-election campaign to travel to Ottawa on Thursday to determine the facts of the case, a senior government official said.

Hours later, the department said no request had ever been made for Abdullah Kurdi's family.

The plaintive photograph of lifeless Aylan Kurdi, seen around the world, has highlighted the desperation of those risking their lives to try to reach Europe, sparking fresh calls for countries to do more to ease their passage.

In Britain, U.N. refugee agency representative Laura Padoan said publishing the photos may bring a major change in the public's perception of the crisis.

"I think a lot of people will think about their own families and their own children in relation to those images," she said. "It is difficult for politicians to turn their backs on those kind of images and the very real tragedy that is happening."

The tide also washed up the bodies of Rehan and Galip on Turkey's Bodrum peninsula Wednesday. In all, 12 people drowned when two boats capsized.

They represent only a small fraction of the uncounted number of those who have died at sea in recent months as the conflicts in the Middle East have intensified.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency said eight of the 12 drowned migrants were children. Four people were detained Thursday on suspicion of acting as intermediaries in the illegal trafficking, the agency said.

It was not immediately clear when the family left Kobani or what its movements were in Turkey. Abdullah Kurdi said the family had arrived in Bodrum from Istanbul 15 days ago.

He said he planned to take his family's remains back to Kobani for burial.

"I want the whole world to see," he said. "We went through a disaster and I don't want other people to suffer the same."

According to U.N. officials, more than 24,000 people arrived from northern Syria amid fighting between the Islamic State group and Kurdish militants.

Close to 2 million people have fled Syria for Turkey, making the country the biggest host of refugees in the world. The country complains that it is bearing the responsibility mostly on its own.

The Milliyet newspaper said in its headline: "Be ashamed world."

In Britain, Labour Party legislator Ann Clwyd said constituents have been calling her since the photographs appeared.

"People are horrified," she told The Associated Press. "People are saying, 'Please, can we do something, this is disgraceful.'"

British lawmaker Nadhim Zahawi said on Twitter that the picture should "make us all ashamed."

"I am sorry little angel, RIP," he wrote.
___

Katz reported from London. Rob Gillies in Toronto also contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-09-04

RELATED TOPIC:

Image of dead child on beach haunts and frustrates the world

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/853338-image-of-dead-child-on-turkish-beach-haunts-and-frustrates-the-world/

[robertthebruce]

I saw the photograph of his son lying dead face down on the beach..... The poor father how tragic is this....

It will be with him all his life...... So so sad..........

Heart goes out to the wee soul and his poor father.......

[jasonsamui55]

yes, very sad indeed!

[Sooo Upto Me]

RIP little one.

I'm lost for words with wot is going on in this crazy world of ours at the moment.

[steven100]

Very tragic events ... If the EU and the UK stopped the Assad regime from bombing it's own people the families would not need to make this risk taking boat trip.

Kill Assad and his murderous regime and go after ISIL at the same time and stop the bombings of their own people and you stop people fleeing.

[kutjebu]

Is it that simple Steven.Don't stick you nose in Muslim countries..What about Libya,Afghanistan

,Irak?

Edited September 4, 2015 by kutjebu

[dragonballs]

stay home, would not have happend

what they want? europe to pay social welfare for everybody

while MUSLIM countries, their own religion, their brothers, don't want them ?

time for IS to finally invade SA

[Scott]

An inflammatory post has been removed.

[NanLaew]

In Britain, U.N. refugee agency representative Laura Padoan said publishing the photos may bring a major change in the public's perception of the crisis.

As a father with a young son, the image brings an instant lump to my throat and tears my eyes so on a personal level, a profound impact. But it isn't the public's perception of what is behind this tragedy that matters. It's the politicians and leaders that have been making platitudes and empty promises since Assad decided to kill his own people that need to see this and act.

[how241]

yes, very sad indeed!

+1...sad story with no real ending or solution in sight.

[nev]

It breaks my heart seeing the young boy washed up dead on the beach, I have a son similar age who I am away from right now due to work, my first thought was what if it was my son I could not carry on living with that image in my head.

[JHolmesJr]

It just shows how desperate these people are….imagine getting on a boat in choppy waters without caring about life jackets.

[NanLaew]

I was working offshore the north coast of Cuba in 1994, just after the Russians didn't do their annual sugar for oil swap with Castro and the place fell even further apart. Remembering the ones that would cast off from the mangroves in nothing more than a tire inner tube made me thankful that I was lucky not to have been born and lived where such desperate acts are the only viable alternative for most people. The Syrian refugee's biggest disadvantage is the reluctance of many nations and states to fully embrace their humanity because the victims are mostly Muslim.

[Alwyn]

This might upset a few but what the heck, won't be the first time. The Syrian conflict is now 4 years old and could quite easily have been stopped if not even prevented. I really feel for the children who have nothing to do with this conflict.

What I don't feel for is the people that call themselves parents and would knowingly and willingly put their children at risk like this. I look at photos of these families and they all look strong, well fed and not paupers - let's face it they wouldn't be able to pay the traffickers if they were paupers. The fact that they've retained health & wealth for the past 4 years tells me they're not really endangered and yet, knowing that people are dying enroute to Europe they still willingly put their children's lives at risk. This is the fault of the parents, not Europe.

I also think that Saudi, Kuawait, UAE, Jordan etc should stop buying up London and football clubs and help their religious brethren. The total acceptance of refugees into these countries is zero. They are accessible by land and they are of the same faith, which they keep telling the World is the religion pf peace, harmony and love. Obviously not quite like that is it?

[KunMatt]

Everyone is always quick to blame the UK and Europe for not accepting an overwhelming number of immigrants from the hotbed of terrorism but whatabout all the oil rich Arab Nations surrounding Syria? How many refugees are Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, The UAE and the rest of them, accepting into their own countries and helping?

It's sad that a little boy died but the future consequences of allowing all of these people into our country unchecked (and then all of their families in the future) will be much graver for us all.

Edited September 4, 2015 by KunMatt

[simple1]

This might upset a few but what the heck, won't be the first time. The Syrian conflict is now 4 years old and could quite easily have been stopped if not even prevented. I really feel for the children who have nothing to do with this conflict.

What I don't feel for is the people that call themselves parents and would knowingly and willingly put their children at risk like this. I look at photos of these families and they all look strong, well fed and not paupers - let's face it they wouldn't be able to pay the traffickers if they were paupers. The fact that they've retained health & wealth for the past 4 years tells me they're not really endangered and yet, knowing that people are dying enroute to Europe they still willingly put their children's lives at risk. This is the fault of the parents, not Europe.

I also think that Saudi, Kuawait, UAE, Jordan etc should stop buying up London and football clubs and help their religious brethren. The total acceptance of refugees into these countries is zero. They are accessible by land and they are of the same faith, which they keep telling the World is the religion pf peace, harmony and love. Obviously not quite like that is it?

UAE does host only a small number of refugees, on the other side of the coin they have provided $537 million in aid; UAE justification below.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-03/u-a-e-says-aid-not-shelter-is-way-to-help-syria-refugees

Saudi hosts roughly 70k Syrian refugees, but again has provided aid in the hundreds of millions. Don't respect these dictatorships, but I believe it's worthwhile establishing a few facts.

Jordan hosts around 600k+ refugees, not counting the Palestinians.

If you do some research on comments by UNHCR concerning insufficient donor funding received in 2015 for M.E. refugees, you will understand why so many refugees are now endeavouring to depart host countries bordering Syria.

Edited September 4, 2015 by simple1

[jomcondo]

Very tragic events ... If the EU and the UK stopped the Assad regime from bombing it's own people the families would not need to make this risk taking boat trip.

Kill Assad and his murderous regime and go after ISIL at the same time and stop the bombings of their own people and you stop people fleeing.

oh simple steven,

there are a variety of different reasons why people are making the trip to europe.

some are fleeing IS

some are living within assads zones and he wants them to fight for him

some just want a better life

[DILLIGAD]

Terrible story but what are the other Islamic (oil rich) countries doing to help their brethren?

How many refugee"s are they taking? I believe the answer starts with a "Z"

[Alwyn]

This might upset a few but what the heck, won't be the first time. The Syrian conflict is now 4 years old and could quite easily have been stopped if not even prevented. I really feel for the children who have nothing to do with this conflict.

What I don't feel for is the people that call themselves parents and would knowingly and willingly put their children at risk like this. I look at photos of these families and they all look strong, well fed and not paupers - let's face it they wouldn't be able to pay the traffickers if they were paupers. The fact that they've retained health & wealth for the past 4 years tells me they're not really endangered and yet, knowing that people are dying enroute to Europe they still willingly put their children's lives at risk. This is the fault of the parents, not Europe.

I also think that Saudi, Kuawait, UAE, Jordan etc should stop buying up London and football clubs and help their religious brethren. The total acceptance of refugees into these countries is zero. They are accessible by land and they are of the same faith, which they keep telling the World is the religion pf peace, harmony and love. Obviously not quite like that is it?

UAE does host only a small number of refugees, on the other side of the coin they have provided $537 million in aid; UAE justification below.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-03/u-a-e-says-aid-not-shelter-is-way-to-help-syria-refugees

Saudi hosts roughly 70k Syrian refugees, but again has provided aid in the hundreds of millions. Don't respect these dictatorships, but I believe it's worthwhile establishing a few facts.

Jordan hosts around 600k+ refugees, not counting the Palestinians.

If you do some research on comments by UNHCR concerning insufficient donor funding received in 2015 for M.E. refugees, you will understand why so many refugees are now endeavouring to depart host countries bordering Syria.

Yet the BBC and Washington Post (to name just a few) seem to disagree with your stats, they're naming and shaming the Arab countries.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-34116381

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/04/the-arab-worlds-wealthiest-nations-are-doing-next-to-nothing-for-syrias-refugees/

[simple1]

This might upset a few but what the heck, won't be the first time. The Syrian conflict is now 4 years old and could quite easily have been stopped if not even prevented. I really feel for the children who have nothing to do with this conflict.

What I don't feel for is the people that call themselves parents and would knowingly and willingly put their children at risk like this. I look at photos of these families and they all look strong, well fed and not paupers - let's face it they wouldn't be able to pay the traffickers if they were paupers. The fact that they've retained health & wealth for the past 4 years tells me they're not really endangered and yet, knowing that people are dying enroute to Europe they still willingly put their children's lives at risk. This is the fault of the parents, not Europe.

I also think that Saudi, Kuawait, UAE, Jordan etc should stop buying up London and football clubs and help their religious brethren. The total acceptance of refugees into these countries is zero. They are accessible by land and they are of the same faith, which they keep telling the World is the religion pf peace, harmony and love. Obviously not quite like that is it?

UAE does host only a small number of refugees, on the other side of the coin they have provided $537 million in aid; UAE justification below.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-03/u-a-e-says-aid-not-shelter-is-way-to-help-syria-refugees

Saudi hosts roughly 70k Syrian refugees, but again has provided aid in the hundreds of millions. Don't respect these dictatorships, but I believe it's worthwhile establishing a few facts.

Jordan hosts around 600k+ refugees, not counting the Palestinians.

If you do some research on comments by UNHCR concerning insufficient donor funding received in 2015 for M.E. refugees, you will understand why so many refugees are now endeavouring to depart host countries bordering Syria.

Yet the BBC and Washington Post (to name just a few) seem to disagree with your stats, they're naming and shaming the Arab countries.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-34116381

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/04/the-arab-worlds-wealthiest-nations-are-doing-next-to-nothing-for-syrias-refugees/

Apologies, my error, Saudi hosting 70,000 stateless refugees (believe remainder of the 300K Rohingya permitted entry in the late 70s, though could be wrong)

http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e486976.html

Last year Saudi expelled 12k Somali refugees.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/02/18/saudi-arabia-12000-somalis-expelled

[Merzik]

A few pertinent details:

The father had already escaped the war in Syria and was living in Turkey.
He wanted to go to Europe to get his teeth fixed ( no doubt at European taxpayers' expense)
The following is from a Wall Street Journal article:




http://www.wsj.com/articles/image-of-syrian-boy-washed-up-on-beach-hits-hard-1441282847

There are already 50 million Muslims in Europe and a large percentage are on the dole and commit crimes. Europe does not want or need millions more.

Edited September 5, 2015 by metisdead

[Merzik]

Very tragic events ... If the EU and the UK stopped the Assad regime from bombing it's own people the families would not need to make this risk taking boat trip.

Kill Assad and his murderous regime and go after ISIL at the same time and stop the bombings of their own people and you stop people fleeing.

The Assad regime has been fighting and killing ISIL, AQ and the other Sunni islamist groups since the very beginning of this war. If you are opposed to these groups you should be supporting Assad. There are very, very few "moderate" Muslim rebels fighting against the Assad regime. This is a predominately Sunni extremist jihad financed from abroad with a large proportion being non-Syrian mecenaries and jihadists from all over the planet. Assad is a secular and authoratarian strongman who is no Boy Scout yet nevertheless has the support of most of the Syrian people now. In many cases he is seen as a "lesser of two evils" of course. Syria's large Christan community overwhelming supports Assad and fear the victory of the rebels; knowing all too well they are overwhelmingly extremist Muslims and that their lives will be even worse under them. Assad is not randomly "bombing his own people" but doing what any other government would do against an armed revolution trying to overthrow the government by force of arms and terrorism.

Edited September 4, 2015 by Merzik

[Merzik]

Terrible story but what are the other Islamic (oil rich) countries doing to help their brethren?

How many refugee"s are they taking? I believe the answer starts with a "Z"

Indeed. The other Islamic countries are of course delighted to see hundreds of thousands of muslim immigrants join the 50 million already in Europe. This is a demographic conquest of Europe. Muslim armies have repeatively invaded and occuppied Europe over the centuries. Spain was occuppied for 700 years and Greece for 400. 150,000 Turkish soldiers got all the way to Vienna before being defeated. In most cases they were turned back by European armies. For the last 5 decades they have been conquering Europe through immigration; both legal and illegal. Europe has been betrayed by its own corrupt and incompetent " elite" class which has ignored the desires of the European people and allowed this invasion to happen. Don't expect Arab oligarchs to lift a finger to stop what their ancestors armies tried to do by force of arms. They despise us for our weakness and stupidity. I can't blame them really. If Europe wants to commit demographic suicide; why should they protest or prevent them from doing so?

[Neurath]

I was working offshore the north coast of Cuba in 1994, just after the Russians didn't do their annual sugar for oil swap with Castro and the place fell even further apart. Remembering the ones that would cast off from the mangroves in nothing more than a tire inner tube made me thankful that I was lucky not to have been born and lived where such desperate acts are the only viable alternative for most people. The Syrian refugee's biggest disadvantage is the reluctance of many nations and states to fully embrace their humanity because the victims are mostly Muslim.

That's for sure.

Truly depressing to be watching "Christian Europe" freaking out because they might actually have to really practice Christian Charity and live up to the ideals that they vocally proclaim constitutes their civilization and elevates it from the rest. It's now one the moments or epochs that the rhetoric is tested and it's determined whether the rhetoric determines behavior or is just a fig leaf for venality and fear.

[steven100]

Very tragic events ... If the EU and the UK stopped the Assad regime from bombing it's own people the families would not need to make this risk taking boat trip.

Kill Assad and his murderous regime and go after ISIL at the same time and stop the bombings of their own people and you stop people fleeing.

The reason these people now have to flee their countries is just because of the illegal Iraq invasion and the involvment in Libya and Syria by the US and it's (allies)servants.

disagree ... that's the blame game and the excuse that the anti US puppets use all the time. That's long done finished and over ... forget that and move on to real reasons. That's not the reason imo.

Assad is bombing his own people and if he wasn't doing that then families would not flee.

Many of these countries are run by murderous rouge tyrants such as Libya, Syria, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan just to name a few. If these governments weren't running a genocide against it's own people they would not need to flee ..

fact is fact.

[Merzik]

I was working offshore the north coast of Cuba in 1994, just after the Russians didn't do their annual sugar for oil swap with Castro and the place fell even further apart. Remembering the ones that would cast off from the mangroves in nothing more than a tire inner tube made me thankful that I was lucky not to have been born and lived where such desperate acts are the only viable alternative for most people. The Syrian refugee's biggest disadvantage is the reluctance of many nations and states to fully embrace their humanity because the victims are mostly Muslim.

That's for sure.

Truly depressing to be watching "Christian Europe" freaking out because they might actually have to really practice Christian Charity and live up to the ideals that they vocally proclaim constitutes their civilization and elevates it from the rest. It's now one the moments or epochs that the rhetoric is tested and it's determined whether the rhetoric determines behavior or is just a fig leaf for venality and fear.

There are an estimated 50 million Muzz in Western Europe already. The vast majority were immigrants or their children having arrived in the last 6 decades. So how many millions more do you want Europe to accept to prove how Christian we are? Another 50 million? 100? As many who want to come? If you haven't noticed already Muslim integration has not exactly been a sucess. European prisons are full of Muzz criminals ( up to 70% of the prisoners in France are African and/or Muzz) Swedan has become one of the rape capitals of the world ; the vast majority resulting from its Muslim immigrants. There are more British Muslims fighting in IS in Syria than soldiers in the UK army. A alarmingly high percentage of British Muslims have voiced support in mainstream opinion polls for the 7/7 and 9/11 terrorist bombings and want strict Sharia law.

Newsweek Magazine reports 16% of the French support IS. Who do you think this 16% is ? In addition a very large percentage of European Muslims are on the dole and the new arrivals will certainly join them. Le Monde published a survey two years ago demonstating that 75% of French citizens no longer felt at home in their own country because of excessive immigration and their lack of integration into French society. Large percentages felt a civil war was on the horizon. Several prominent French intellectuals have predicted this civil war and a new French revolution in the near future.

Again... How many millions more must we accept to prove how generous we are ? Europe is on the precipice of civil war and chaos and the arrival of hundreds of thousands of predominately young Muslim men and illiterate African economic refuguees will only accelerate this crisis. Europe does not need this. Period.

Edited September 5, 2015 by Merzik

[thaibeachlovers]

Leaving aside the images portrayed by an illegal economic migrant sympathetic press, this case proves just how much the situation is not about real refugees, but about economic migration. He came to Europe hoping to join the wave of real refugees to have a better economic future, and when it went tragically wrong for them he was able to return to his home town to bury them. Obviously he was NOT fleeing possible death.

All comes down to the locals exceeding the ability of their own country to support them by overpopulation. Now they want to go to Europe and stuff them up too.

[Steely Dan]

Leaving aside the images portrayed by an illegal economic migrant sympathetic press, this case proves just how much the situation is not about real refugees, but about economic migration. He came to Europe hoping to join the wave of real refugees to have a better economic future, and when it went tragically wrong for them he was able to return to his home town to bury them. Obviously he was NOT fleeing possible death.

All comes down to the locals exceeding the ability of their own country to support them by overpopulation. Now they want to go to Europe and stuff them up too.

I suspect not even 1% of the European population will hear about the father's teeth, it doesn't fit the narrative and will now likely be dropped as quickly as that of a Palestinian child who turns out to have been killed by a stray Hamas rocket rather than by the Israelis.

The gaslighting press is obscene in the way it manipulates discourse.

[Steely Dan]

A few pertinent details:

The father had already escaped the war in Syria and was living in Turkey.

He wanted to go to Europe to get his teeth fixed ( no doubt at European taxpayers' expense)

The following is from a Wall Street Journal article:

image.jpg

http://www.wsj.com/articles/image-of-syrian-boy-washed-up-on-beach-hits-hard-1441282847

There are already 50 million Muslims in Europe and a large percentage are on the dole and commit crimes. Europe does not want or need millions more.

A clear case of misaddenture.

[Thakkar]

T