By Tulay Karadeniz
ANKARA, Sept 3 (Reuters) - The family of a Syrian toddler
whose body washed up on a Turkish beach had been trying to
emigrate to Canada after fleeing the war-torn town of Kobani,
one of their relatives told a Canadian newspaper on Thursday.
A photograph of the tiny body of three-year old Aylan Kurdi
washed up in the Aegean resort of Bodrum swept social media on
Wednesday, spawning sympathy and outrage at the perceived
inaction of developed nations in helping refugees.
ID:nL5N1180RA
His 5-year-old brother Galip and mother Rehan, 35, also died
after their boat capsized while trying to reach the Greek island
of Kos. His father, Abdullah, was found semi-conscious and taken
to hospital near Bodrum, according to Turkey's Sabah newspaper.
"I heard the news at five o'clock this morning," Teema
Kurdi, Abdullah's sister and a resident of Vancouver, was quoted
as saying by Canada's National Post newspaper. Teema had been
contacted by the wife of one of Abdullah's brothers.
"She had got a call from Abdullah, and all he said was, my
wife and two boys are dead," Teema said.
Abdullah, his wife and two children had made a
privately-sponsored refugee application to the Canadian
authorities that was rejected in June because of complications
with applications from Turkey, the newspaper quoted Teema as
saying.
"I was trying to sponsor them, and I have my friends and my
neighbours who helped me with the bank deposits, but we couldn't
get them out, and that is why they went in the boat," she said.
"I was even paying rent for them in Turkey, but it is
horrible the way they treat Syrians there."
Turkey has won international praise for taking in 2 million
refugees since the Syrian civil war began in March 2011,
spending $6 billion caring for them and receiving just $400
million in outside aid.
But it has warned it is reaching capacity, and thousands are
now making the perilous journey by boat from Turkey to Greece in
a bid to enter Europe. ID:nL5N10V1VR
Kobani, a town in northern Syria near the Turkish border,
was the scene of heavy fighting between Islamic State insurgents
and Kurdish regional forces several months ago.
Tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing the war in their
homeland have descended on Turkey's Aegean coast this summer to
board boats to Greece. ID:nL5N10N46C
The Turkish army said its search and rescue teams had saved
hundreds of migrants in the seas between Turkey and Greek
islands over the last few days.
Abdullah's family were among at least 12 presumed Syrian
refugees who died trying to reach Kos after two boats, carrying
a total of 23 people, set off separately from the Akyarlar area
of the Bodrum peninsula, a naval official said.
The UN refugee agency estimates that almost 160,000 refugees
and migrants have arrived in Greece by sea since the start of
last year. In July more than 50,000 people, mostly Syrians,
arrived in Greece compared with 43,500 in the whole of 2014.
The agency has repeated calls for Greece and the European
Union to take steps to address the situation.
(Writing by Dasha Afanasieva; Editing by Nick Tattersall and
Anna Willard)