World

Drowned Syrian toddlers and their mother buried in Kobani

Abdullah Kurdi collapsed in tears after emerging from a morgue in the city of Mugla near Bodrum in Turkey

Reuters September 04, 2015

PHOTO: REUTERS

MUGLA, TURKEY: Two Syrian toddlers who drowned with their mother as they were trying to reach Greece were laid to rest in the Syrian town of Kobani on Friday, a Reuters witness said.

A photograph of the body of one of the toddlers, 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi, washed up on the shore, appeared in newspapers around the world this week, prompting sympathy and outrage at the perceived inaction of developed nations in helping refugees.

Farewell Alan, Ghalib and Rehana. Just burried. RIP. #AlanKurdi pic.twitter.com/wBsQtExRzS
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) September 4, 2015

PHOTO: REUTERS

Abdullah Kurdi, their father, wept as their bodies were buried alongside each other in the "Martyrs' Ceremony" in the predominantly Kurdish town of Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab, near at the border with Turkey. Speaking at the border crossing, Kurdi said he hoped the death of his family would encourage Arab states to help Syrian refugees.

PHOTO: REUTERS

"I want from Arab governments - not European countries – to see (what happened to) my children, and because of them to help people," he said in footage posted online by a local radio station.

PHOTO: TWITTER

COMMENTS (6)

Ali | 9 years ago | Reply World's Strongest Father. May Allah bless him with Sabr (Patience) and grant the highest levels of Jannah to his sons and his wife. Amen!

Stranger | 9 years ago | Reply what are the rich M countries doing like KSA / Brunei ? Their Sheiks are known to go to the west and spill money around like rain. why cant they help their own folk ?

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Naila | 9 years ago | Reply @M: How can you say such thing?! No one would put their children on a boat unless the water is safer than land! And then you bring religion into this. They don't deserve humanity because they are a different religion to you? Shameful.

Pragmatist | 9 years ago | Reply This man didn't jump into the water to save his kids.

M | 9 years ago | Reply Refugees should be set up in refugee camps - the kid didn't drown because Europe wouldn't take him in, he drowned because his parents got greedy! They were perfectly safe in Turkey, what prompted them to cross the sea? Greed for an easier life in Europe. The refugees should be set up in temporary camps near the Syrian border, while the world focuses on tackling ISIS and returning these people to their homes, not on making room for huge multitudes of refugees. If a huge influx of Christian refugees sought asylum in a Muslim country, thus threatening the social, cultural, and economic fabric of the Muslim country, would they be allowed in? Probably not. If they must be set up somewhere, these refugees need to be accommodated in KSA and the Gulf countries.

Azi | 9 years ago | Reply They are so beautiful....I actually get teary whenever I think how painful and horrifying it must be for the kids. Please kids forgive us all, we have failed you collectively.

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