World weeps as Alan Kurdi buried in Kobani
Alan Kurdi, the 3-year-old Kurdish boy whose tragic drowning has gripped the world, was buried Friday with his mother and brother in the city of Kobani.
The family was mourned in a funeral ceremony attended by crowds of supporters and Kurdish officials from Kobani canton, including from the Republican People's Party and the Democratic Union Party.
The bodies were brought to their hometown in a convoy from Istanbul early on Friday accompanied by Alan's father, Abdullah, and uncle. The procession included a large contingent of Kurdish supporters, as well as ambulances and Turkish police.
Speaking to the press after the funeral Abdullah Kurdi was choked with sadness.
"Words cannot express my feelings, what can I say? I hope our story will bring the West’s attention to this part of the world," Abdullah said.
Rudaw correspondent Mashalla Dakak, who is traveled with the convoy, said hundreds of people met the bodies in Kobani and held a traditional funeral ceremony.
Alan drowned along with his mother, Rehan, 28, and 4-year-old brother Galeb on Monday while trying to reach the Greek island of Kos from Turkey.
"We could see how close the island is. We got on the boat. It was a plastic raft. We were only aboard four minutes when the sea’s waves hit us," Abdullah said after the funeral.
"The Turkish boat captain jumped into the water with the first waves and left us alone on the boat. I tried to save my family. I took the controls but with the second wave the boat flipped over.
"I couldn’t do anything. I just embraced my family and hold them tied. Galeb died first, then his mother and Alan."
Tima Kurdi, Alan aunt who has lived in Canada for more than 20 years, told the press the family had been denied refugee asylum by the Canadian government.
“I was trying to sponsor them, and I have my friends and my neighbors 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,” Tima told the Ottawa Citizen.
Reports said Canadian authorities rejected the family's bid because the United Nations does not register Syrian Kurds who had spent time in Turkey as refugees. The Turkish government reportedly refused to grant the family exit visas.
Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani on Thursday issued a statement on Alan's death.
“The departure of Alan and his family, who abandoned their homeland for Europe, is an example of the tyranny the Kurds have been suffering from since last decades,” his statement added.
Like the now iconic Alan, the city of Kobani is also a powerful symbol to Kurds. The city, sometimes called the Kurdish Stalingrad, was recaptured from ISIS earlier this after months of bloody fighting.
Even so, Abdullah said war and lack of opportunity forced him to try to take his family to the West.
"We love our home, but you see the situation."
Photographs from Alan Kurdi's funeral in Kobani.
The family was mourned in a funeral ceremony attended by crowds of supporters and Kurdish officials from Kobani canton, including from the Republican People's Party and the Democratic Union Party.
The bodies were brought to their hometown in a convoy from Istanbul early on Friday accompanied by Alan's father, Abdullah, and uncle. The procession included a large contingent of Kurdish supporters, as well as ambulances and Turkish police.
Speaking to the press after the funeral Abdullah Kurdi was choked with sadness.
"Words cannot express my feelings, what can I say? I hope our story will bring the West’s attention to this part of the world," Abdullah said.
Rudaw correspondent Mashalla Dakak, who is traveled with the convoy, said hundreds of people met the bodies in Kobani and held a traditional funeral ceremony.
Alan drowned along with his mother, Rehan, 28, and 4-year-old brother Galeb on Monday while trying to reach the Greek island of Kos from Turkey.
"We could see how close the island is. We got on the boat. It was a plastic raft. We were only aboard four minutes when the sea’s waves hit us," Abdullah said after the funeral.
"The Turkish boat captain jumped into the water with the first waves and left us alone on the boat. I tried to save my family. I took the controls but with the second wave the boat flipped over.
"I couldn’t do anything. I just embraced my family and hold them tied. Galeb died first, then his mother and Alan."
Tima Kurdi, Alan aunt who has lived in Canada for more than 20 years, told the press the family had been denied refugee asylum by the Canadian government.
“I was trying to sponsor them, and I have my friends and my neighbors 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,” Tima told the Ottawa Citizen.
Reports said Canadian authorities rejected the family's bid because the United Nations does not register Syrian Kurds who had spent time in Turkey as refugees. The Turkish government reportedly refused to grant the family exit visas.
Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani on Thursday issued a statement on Alan's death.
“The departure of Alan and his family, who abandoned their homeland for Europe, is an example of the tyranny the Kurds have been suffering from since last decades,” his statement added.
Like the now iconic Alan, the city of Kobani is also a powerful symbol to Kurds. The city, sometimes called the Kurdish Stalingrad, was recaptured from ISIS earlier this after months of bloody fighting.
Even so, Abdullah said war and lack of opportunity forced him to try to take his family to the West.
"We love our home, but you see the situation."
Photographs from Alan Kurdi's funeral in Kobani.