Drowned Syrian Child’s Aunt Fights To Bring Family To Canada

Drowned Syrian Child’s Aunt Fights To Bring Family To Canada

The aunt of the drowned Syrian child, Aylan Kurdi, whose death has sparked global outrage about the plight of refugees in Europe says she still hopes to bring the rest of her family to Canada.

Tima Kurdi said through tears outside her home in Coquitlam, 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, three-year-old Aylan and five-year-old Ghalib, and wife Rehanna were buried on Friday, she said.

They drowned earlier this week after piling into an overloaded boat in Bodrum, Turkey, headed for the Greek island of Kos. Her brother was among the few survivors.

“We’re all emotionally affected by what happened right now,” Kurdi said, surrounded by framed photos of her nephews. “I’m sure he (will) refuse and he doesn’t want to leave Kobani.”

She added: “But one day, I will bring him here. He cannot be by himself there.”

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Kurdi has previously 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 am the one who should be at blame,” she said. “I blame myself because my brother does not have money. I sent him the money to pay the smuggler. If I didn’t send him the money, those people still (would be) alive.”

She said the trip was the “ only option” left for the family to have a better life in a European country, possibly Germany or Sweden.