Family of drowned migrant boy was on boat after move to Canada was blocked

The family of a child whose body washed up on a Turkish beach had been trying to emigrate to Canada after fleeing their war-torn homeland, it emerged on Thursday. Syrian Aylan Kurdi, whose body was seen face down in the surf in an image that shocked the world, was making the journey across treacherous seas on a flimsy boat after his family’s application to move to Canada was rejected. The three-year-old’s aunt, hairdresser Teema Kurdi, who has lived in Vancouver for 20 years, said: “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

Aylan’s aunt, Teema Kurdi

The family was among tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing the war in their homeland and trying to reach Greece through Turkey. Aylan’s five-year-old brother, Galip, and mother Rehan, 35, also died along with at least 12 others when their boat capsized while trying to reach the Greek island of Kos. His father, Abdullah, was found semi-conscious and taken to hospital near the resort of Bodrum. The family’s privately sponsored refugee application to the Canadian authorities was rejected in June because of complications with applications from Turkey, the aunt said. The father’s his only wish now was to return to Kobane with his dead wife and children, bury them, and be buried alongside them, she added.

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