ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani offered his condolences to the father of Alan Kurdi, the Kurdish refugee toddler who drowned Wednesday as his family tried to reach the Greek island of Kos from Turkey.
According to the KRG’s official website, Barzani contacted Abdulla Kurdi and expressed his sadness for Kurdi’s misfortune, which evoked widespread shock, and brought home the tragedy of the Syrian war and the thousands of refugees who have risked their lives.
Alan’s death sparked widespread condemnation and a previously unseen outpouring of emotions from world leaders.
“The image of the drowned Kurdish child from Kobani is another symbol of the tyrannized Kurdish people in the world,” said Kurdistan region President Masoud Barzani in a Thursday statement.
Alan drowned along with his mother, Rehan, and 5-year-old brother Galeb while trying to reach Greece from Turkey.
"The Turkish boat captain jumped into the water with the first wave and left us alone on the boat. I tried to save my family. I took control of the boat, but with the second wave the boat flipped over," said Abdulla Kurdi, who lost his family in the Aegean Sea.
The bodies of the drowned family were buried today in the Kurdish city of Kobani. Rudaw correspondent Mashalla Dakak, who was at the scene, said hundreds of people were waiting in Kobani to receive the bodies and hold a traditional funeral.
Tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing the conflict in their homeland have descended on Turkey's Aegean coast this summer to board boats to Greece, their gateway to the European Union. The EU is set to formulate new plans next week to share refugees across European states, as well as to speed deportations of unwanted migrants.
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