Drowned Syrian boys' aunt wants to bring family to Canada

[Lite Beer]

Drowned Syrian boys' aunt wants to bring family to Canada

COQUITLAM, British Columbia (AP) — The aunt of a drowned Syrian boy whose death has sparked global outrage about the plight of refugees in Europe says she hopes to bring the rest of her family to Canada.

Tima Kurdi said through tears outside her home in British Columbia that she plans to help her brother, Abdullah, and her other siblings immigrate to the country she made home more than two decades ago.

Abdullah isn't ready to leave his Syrian hometown of Kobani, where his sons, 3-year-old Aylan and 5-year-old Ghalib, and wife Rehanna were buried on Friday, she said. They drowned after piling into an overloaded boat in Turkey headed for the Greek island of Kos. Her brother was among the few survivors.

"I'm sure he (will) refuse and he doesn't want to leave Kobani," Kurdi said. "But one day, I will bring him here. He cannot be by himself there."

Family, friends and strangers on Saturday packed a small Vancouver theater filled with white balloons, roses and photos for a memorial service. The family planned to release balloons in the boys' memory on the waterfront.

Kurdi has said she wanted to bring both her brothers to Canada, but she applied first for her eldest sibling Mohammed, whose application was rejected because it was incomplete.

She said that Mohammed's failed application prompted Abdullah to embark on the risky journey with his family. She said she sent him $5,000 to pay smugglers to take them in a boat.

Asked whether her brother blames himself, Kurdi said no.

"I blame myself because my brother does not have money," she said. "I sent him the money to pay the smuggler."

She said the trip was the "only option" left for the family to have a better life in a European country. They were fleeing horrors in Syria, where militants from the Islamic State group had beheaded one of her sister-in-law's relatives.

Abdullah knew of the dangers, she said, adding he had planned to pay 2,000 euros ($2,230) each for him and his wife to board a safer jet boat, compared to 1,200 euros ($1,338) for a rubber boat. There was no fee for the two boys.

Photos of Aylan's lifeless body on a beach in Turkey have put Canada's refugee policy in the spotlight, though Kurdi said she doesn't blame the Canadian government.

Kurdi spoke to both her brothers by phone on Friday. Her grieving brother is proud of his kids for becoming a symbol of the dire situation facing Syrian refugees and hopes to see leaders step in to end human smuggling, she said.

"He said, 'I don't need anything from this world anymore. What I have is gone.' But my kids, and my wife, it's a wake-up call for the world. And hopefully they step in and help others."

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-09-06

[ezzra]

Turkey is housing hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in good and safe environments and under the protection and supervision of the UN... why those other refugees had to risk life and limbs just so to settle in first class countries and not other Muslim countries? why didn't they went and waited it out in Turkey like many others? or was it a chance and an opportunity to settle in rich countries using the Syrian crisis as an excuse?

[shirtless]

You seek true asylum at the first border you cross these are economic migrants looking to the west for a future,I hope germany has deep pockets as Merkels decision will cost their tax payers plenty

[Bakseeda]

Airlift every last one of them , Syrians, Afghans, Iraqis, the whole shooting match and land them in Somalia. Give them that country. It's Muslim, huge ,plenty of water and arable land, and needs hard working peoples to rebuild that country. Job done..!

[zaphod reborn]

Makes me think Scott Walker's campaign talk about building a wall for the Canadian border may not be so crazy after all.

[pedro01]

Here's dad in September last year 2 years into his life as a resident of Turkey

I imagine sometime soon he'll take down his facebook page - as it doesn't fit the rhetoric.

It seems clear this family were not refugees but economic migrants. Life in Europe with all the taxpayer funded benefits must have seemed better than life in Turkey, hence he paid 4000 Euros (so we are told) to put his family on that boat.

That is a decision that will haunt this man forever. As will the decision to not buy some lifejackets for his loved ones.

[Usernames]

Here's dad in September last year 2 years into his life as a resident of Turkey

I imagine sometime soon he'll take down his facebook page - as it doesn't fit the rhetoric.

It seems clear this family were not refugees but economic migrants. Life in Europe with all the taxpayer funded benefits must have seemed better than life in Turkey, hence he paid 4000 Euros (so we are told) to put his family on that boat.

That is a decision that will haunt this man forever. As will the decision to not buy some lifejackets for his loved ones.

Very good. This absolutely says it all. A well fed dad (double chin and a pot belly even) with a smartphone, fresh clean clothes, on a family outing. Not quite the image of desperate, persecuted woe we've been fed. Just a reckless, greedy father who was looking for someone else to pay his and his family's way.

[dragonballs]

someone will pay the bill ... civil war not far away, oh i forgot in many countries they already took all the legal guns away from the honest citizens

[ourmanflint]

I really do despair at all the idiots who are encouraging these so called refugees to come to Europe. For every one that makes it, they will then send for each and every member of their families. Allow 1000 in get 10,000 a year down the line. The situation is just crazy and will lead to years of problems for countries accepting them. But the bleeding hearts don't care about that do they, they just want to be seen as caring and compassionate, so they can feel better about themselves.

[Kerryd]

The money he paid was sent by his sister in Canada.

She had previously applied for refugee status for a different brother but the application was rejected. A politician, trying to score political points off of the boy's death, ran to the press to claim that he had personally handed the refugee application for the boy's family to the Immigration Minister.

The sister herself admitted she hadn't made an application for Abdullah's family but had merely given the politician a piece of paper asking if he could help get them into the country (and that was what he had, in reality, passed to the Minister). (Of course he never apologized for his "error" or for trying to score political points from the boy's death.)

The opposition political parties have been trying to lay the blame for this incident directly on the Prime Minister, hoping that people are actually stupid enough to think that he, or the Immigration Minister, are the ones who sift through the 10s of thousands of applications for Immigration, Political Asylum and Refugee Status, and personally pick who is approved and who isn't.

They are also hoping the public is stupid enough to not take into consideration what would happen if Canada (or any other country for that matter) just blindly started accepting any and all refugees.

Those same politicians are also hoping the population is stupid enough to not consider what would happen if we didn't have Rules, Policies and Paperwork and instead just let anyone wander in without any kind of scrutiny.

In a response to a rather biased article full of BS about this incident I noted that the UNHCR estimates (as of mid-2014) that there are over 13 MILLION "of concern" refugees (not including the 5.1 million Palestinian refugees still waiting for the Arab world to annihilate Israel so they can move back in and take over.)

There are some who seem to think we should open the floodgates and let them all into Canada no questions asked and if it happens that crime rates soar, violence flares, disease outbreaks occur and all manner of war criminals, drug dealers and terrorists flow in with those refugees, no problem ! Just blame the same Prime Minister that they are now blaming for NOT letting that all happen.

(I've also asked all those bleeding hearts how they think we should pay for all those refugees to go to Canada, perhaps indefinitely like the Palestinians and all I get is silence or "not my problem" because they are too stupid to realize that it would be their problem because it would be their tax dollars being used and there wouldn't be enough of those dollars so guess what ? Massive tax increases and debt until the system collapses. Too bad so many shrug their shoulders and think "not my problem". Yeah, it's easy to be a bleeding heart when everything else "isn't your problem" to deal with.)

[Lopchan]

Edited September 6, 2015 by Unky Dozer

[Lopchan]

Yes,Sept 2014-

TWO OH ONE FOUR!

A lot can happen in a year especially during war don't you think? Especially if you are a minority and an infidel in the face of the conquerers. Nice try though. Let's all just do our best to discredit a man who has suffered the tragedy of losing two sons and his wife in front of him eh!?

I lost my daughter and even so cant imagine the horror he's going through.

Here's dad in September last year 2 years into his life as a resident of Turkey

I imagine sometime soon he'll take down his facebook page - as it doesn't fit the rhetoric.

It seems clear this family were not refugees but economic migrants. Life in Europe with all the taxpayer funded benefits must have seemed better than life in Turkey, hence he paid 4000 Euros (so we are told) to put his family on that boat.

That is a decision that will haunt this man forever. As will the decision to not buy some lifejackets for his loved ones.

[chilli42]

To all of you from North America and South America, barring native born, you are all decended from economic and religious refugees. Being from Vancouver I can confirm that the ethnic make up of that city has been irrevocably changed buy the flood of immigration from Asia in the last 20 years. There have been bumps in the road but with time it will make the country stronger and better just like the last flood of refugees from Europe post WWII. Why damn the man for wanting a brighter future for himself and his family? Why refuse people the opportunity for a better life? I have met more than my fair share of expat economic refugees living in Thailand that bring nothing to the table in Thailand other than their pitiful pensions and bar stool wisdom.

[wabothai]

Turkey is housing hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in good and safe environments and under the protection and supervision of the UN... why those other refugees had to risk life and limbs just so to settle in first class countries and not other Muslim countries? why didn't they went and waited it out in Turkey like many others? or was it a chance and an opportunity to settle in rich countries using the Syrian crisis as an excuse?

Yes why, and so all of a sudden.

[blowin]

Yes,Sept 2014-

TWO OH ONE FOUR!

A lot can happen in a year especially during war don't you think? Especially if you are a minority and an infidel in the face of the conquerers. Nice try though. Let's all just do our best to discredit a man who has suffered the tragedy of losing two sons and his wife in front of him eh!?

I lost my daughter and even so cant imagine the horror he's going through.

Here's dad in September last year 2 years into his life as a resident of Turkey

I imagine sometime soon he'll take down his facebook page - as it doesn't fit the rhetoric.

It seems clear this family were not refugees but economic migrants. Life in Europe with all the taxpayer funded benefits must have seemed better than life in Turkey, hence he paid 4000 Euros (so we are told) to put his family on that boat.

That is a decision that will haunt this man forever. As will the decision to not buy some lifejackets for his loved ones.

I don't doubt for one moment the grief and guilt this man is going trough. The guilt because he was safe in Turkey and well looked after going by the picture. Than he risked his families life's for the so called "better life" thats the point. The media are portraying this family as refugees and not economic migrants as they were. I have a kid and I fear for his future in Europe with the influx of migrants and the problems with their religion. This picture of the dead little boy has now given the governments the key to open the borders to let all migrants including Isis fighters.

Unky I am also sorry to hear about the loss of your daughter.

[misterphil]

Headline should say.

"Drowned Syrian Boys Father arrested and put in jail for negligence and child abuse"

He put his and the kids life at risk and paid the ultimate price.

[Lopchan]

To all of you from North America and South America, barring native born, you are all decended from economic and religious refugees. Being from Vancouver I can confirm that the ethnic make up of that city has been irrevocably changed buy the flood of immigration from Asia in the last 20 years. There have been bumps in the road but with time it will make the country stronger and better just like the last flood of refugees from Europe post WWII. Why damn the man for wanting a brighter future for himself and his family? Why refuse people the opportunity for a better life? I have met more than my fair share of expat economic refugees living in Thailand that bring nothing to the table in Thailand other than their pitiful pensions and bar stool wisdom.

Well said!

[Lopchan]

Turkey is housing hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in good and safe environments and under the protection and supervision of the UN... why those other refugees had to risk life and limbs just so to settle in first class countries and not other Muslim countries? why didn't they went and waited it out in Turkey like many others? or was it a chance and an opportunity to settle in rich countries using the Syrian crisis as an excuse?

If you do a bit of research, you'll find that Turkey isn't exactly helping as much as you think. There are myriad articles about it. Here's a link regarding Turkey's inaction as ISIS attacked Kobani (the hometown of the innocent child and his brother)

http://www.wsj.com/articles/luqman-barwari-and-barry-fisher-why-turkey-shrugs-as-isis-closes-in-on-kobani-1412901826

As for your question " why those other refugees had to risk life and limbs just so to settle in first class countries and not other Muslim countries? " The same can be asked of refugees during all wars including WWII.

The answer is simple.

They want the best possible future for their loved ones in countries that are more stable than the ones they are fleeing.

Seeing as you are so often keen on playing the sympathy card for the victims of your holocaust, how about showing some for the victims of THIS holocaust. .

Indeed, or was it a chance and an opportunity to settle in rich countries using the Syrian crisis Nazis as an excuse?

This hypocrisy from so many posters here is bordering on offensive

I guess now as you have in the past if anyone dare use the holocaust as a comparison, you'll report this as an inflammatory post, where in fact I and I suspect others find the quoted post offensive, racist, secular and inflammatory.

Edited September 6, 2015 by Unky Dozer

[phantomfiddler]

The media surely milked this one for all it was worth, but children all over the war (mainly muslim) torn nations are being slaughtered every day. Very similar to the immense reaction to the school children killed in a slagheap landslide in south Wales versus the almost total lack of regard to all the children who were being killed in droves in Vietnam around the same time. Sometimes the media make me want to vomit.

[capcc76]

Oh nope. I hear There some pretty cool places in Northern Africa this time of year.

Seems like these miserable craps are trying to cash in on children's death. Only thinking about themselves.

[Lopchan]

THIS CHANGES NOTHING!
I'm really p!ssed right now. Apparently the horrific photo of the poor little Syrian refugee, Aylan, was staged for the press.
While it's possible the "staged photo" has itself been staged to discredit the original (yeah, there are some truly sick b@st@rds out there who would do it) the evidence at the moment seems to show that they moved Aylan's poor lifeless body to get a "better shot".

This sucks in more ways than one. The most outrageous thing isn't the staging of the photo because as God is my judge, seeing him dead among the rocks would have been equally distressing.
No, what is the most outrageous thing, is the disrespect they showed to Aylan's lifeless body using it as a tool.
While their motives may have been well intended, in wanting to bring more awareness to the world, I can never imagine using anyone's body in that way far less that of an innocent child.

At the end of the day though, it changes nothing, I still firmly believe more should be done, things need to change.
This is but one tragedy and although the photo may have been contrived, its message remains the same. The world needs to ensure that regardless of the truth of this, that Aylan's death and the publicity it has brought is not in vain.

[Lopchan]

UPDATE:

Like I said there are some sick B@st@rds out there!

I've been poring over these images and then, it just clicked. Look at the photos above, carefully. Now look at this photo below. Different shoes. Red Vs Dark blue or black

So it was either a set up to discredit the original photo of Aylan or it is a photo of one of the 13 other children who drowned.

Either way, some @%^&s are trying real hard to make this go away.

Edited September 7, 2015 by Unky Dozer

[pedro01]

Yes,Sept 2014-

TWO OH ONE FOUR!

A lot can happen in a year especially during war don't you think? Especially if you are a minority and an infidel in the face of the conquerers. Nice try though. Let's all just do our best to discredit a man who has suffered the tragedy of losing two sons and his wife in front of him eh!?

I lost my daughter and even so cant imagine the horror he's going through.

Here's dad in September last year 2 years into his life as a resident of Turkey

I imagine sometime soon he'll take down his facebook page - as it doesn't fit the rhetoric.

It seems clear this family were not refugees but economic migrants. Life in Europe with all the taxpayer funded benefits must have seemed better than life in Turkey, hence he paid 4000 Euros (so we are told) to put his family on that boat.

That is a decision that will haunt this man forever. As will the decision to not buy some lifejackets for his loved ones.

This was taken in Turkey - where he was living. He has not lived in a war zone for 3 years. Turkey isn't a war zone.