Death of Alan Kurdi

Last updated
Death of Alan Kurdi
Alan Kurdi lifeless body.jpg
Two-year-old Kurdi lying dead on the beach
Date2 September 2015 (2015-09-02)
Location Mediterranean Sea, near Bodrum, Turkey
CauseDrowning
DeathsAlan Kurdi
Burial4 September 2015, Kobanî, Syria
AccusedMuwafaka Alabash
Asem Alfrhad
ChargesSmuggling immigrants
Causing deaths by negligence
VerdictGuilty of human trafficking, acquitted of causing deaths through deliberate negligence
Convictions4 years 2 months [1]

Alan Kurdi (born Alan Shenu), initially reported as Aylan Kurdi, [2] [3] was a two-year-old Syrian boy (initially reported as having been three years old) of Kurdish ethnic background [4] whose image made global headlines after he drowned on 2 September 2015 in the Mediterranean Sea along with his mother and brother. Alan and his family were Syrian refugees trying to reach Europe from Turkey amid the European refugee crisis (see timeline). Photographs of his body were taken by Turkish journalist Nilüfer Demir and quickly went viral, prompting international responses. [5] Since the Kurdi family had reportedly been trying to reach Canada, his death and the wider refugee crisis became an issue in the 2015 Canadian federal election.

Contents

Biography

Kurdi is believed to have been born in Kobanî, Syria. [6] [7] He was two years and two months old when he died. [8] A Syrian journalist stated that the family name was Shenu; "Kurdi" was used in Turkey because of their ethnic background. [9] After moving between various cities in northern Syria to escape the civil war and ISIL, [10] his family settled in Turkey. [11] The family returned to Kobanî at the beginning of 2015, but returned to Turkey in June 2015 when ISIL attacked Kobanî again. During this time, Kurdi's father arranged for an illegal passage to Kos. [3] [12]

Kurdi smiling in a playground Alan kurdi smiling playground.jpg
Kurdi smiling in a playground

Kurdi's family members were hoping to join their relatives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, after his aunt Tima Kurdi filed for refugee sponsorship, [13] but this was rejected by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada after the family members were denied an exit visa by Turkish authorities. [14] According to the department an application by Alan's uncle, Mohammad, was rejected as it was incomplete, and no application was ever received from Abdullah Kurdi, Alan's father. [3] Abdullah Kurdi said that the Canadian government denied his application for asylum and that they were responsible for the tragedy. [15]

Canadian New Democratic Party (NDP) MP Fin Donnelly told the media that he had hand-delivered their file to Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander earlier in the year, but the application was rejected in June 2015 because it was incomplete. [16] The Kurdi family tried to obtain entry to Canada under a private sponsorship program whereby groups of five people may also sponsor an individual or family. They are required to demonstrate that they can provide roughly 27,000 Canadian dollars to support a family of four refugees. According to Alexandra Kotyk, project manager of Lifeline Syria, a refugee settlement group in Toronto, the program requires that people seeking to come to Canada from Turkey first be declared refugees by the Turkish government. She said that was often a difficult or impossible condition to fulfill. [17]

Fatal accident and body recovery

In the early hours of 2 September 2015, Kurdi and his family boarded a small plastic or rubber inflatable boat, [18] which capsized about five minutes after leaving Bodrum in Turkey. Sixteen people were in the boat, which was designed for a maximum of eight people. They were trying to reach the Greek island of Kos, about 30 minutes (4 kilometres or 2+12 miles) from Bodrum. [18] Kurdi's father said: "We had no life vests", [19] but also said they were wearing life jackets, but they "were all fake". [20] Others have stated that they believed that they were wearing life jackets but the items were ineffective. [6]

It was later stated on Syrian radio that the Kurdi family paid $5,860 for their four spaces on the boat, which had twelve other passengers on it despite being only about five metres long. Alan Kurdi's mother joined the trip despite her fear of being on the open sea. [21] Tima Kurdi, Alan Kurdi's aunt, had advised her sister not to go. The individuals on the boat evaded the Turkish Coastguard by setting out from an isolated beach late at night. [6]

Around 5:00 a.m., authorities started an investigation after an emergency call that a boat had capsized and bodies were coming ashore. [22] The bodies of Kurdi and another child were discovered by two locals at around 6:30 a.m. The two men moved the bodies from the water, where Kurdi was later photographed by a Turkish press photographer. [23] [24]

On 3 September 2015, Alan Kurdi along with his brother, Galib, and their mother, Rehana, were taken to Kobanî for burials, [25] which took place the next day. It is Islamic tradition to bury the dead within 24 hours if possible. [26] The Siege of Kobanî ended in March 2015 and Islamic State attacks on what was left of the city [27] stopped completely in August 2015. [28] [29]

Arrests of alleged perpetrators

Turkish authorities later arrested four individuals in connection with the illegal journey, although they appeared to be low-level intermediaries. [19]

Alan Kurdi's father, Abdullah Kurdi, has stated in some of his interviews that the inflatable boat became uncontrollable as its engine had failed, with the 'captain' abandoning it and everyone else. Some Turkish sources claimed that in his first interview with the Doğan News Agency, he gives a different account of the event; he also states that following two unsuccessful attempts to cross into the Greek island Kos, his family provided its own boat with its own means. [30] > However, Abdullah never confirmed the Doğan News Agency interview.

An Iraqi survivor from the same boat, Zainab Abbas, who also lost two children from the attempted crossing, told reporters that Abdullah had been presented to her as the "captain", that he was driving the overcrowded boat too fast, causing it to flip over, and that he pleaded with her while they were still both in the water not to report him to anyone in authority. [31] [32] Abbas said her family escaped out of Baghdad from ISIS and she was angry because all the media attention was on Alan Kurdi and Abdullah Kurdi, and not on her family. [33] She later returned to Baghdad and said her dead children's bodies had not been correctly prepared for burial and called on Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to grant her family asylum so they could escape the Islamic State. [33] The Reuters agency reported that interviews with two other passengers in the boat, Iraqis Ahmed Hadi Jawwad (Zainab Abbas's husband), and 22-year-old Amir Haider, corroborated Abbas's account. [34]

Abdullah denied the accusation, stating: "If I was a people smuggler, why would I put my family in the same boat as the other people? I paid the same amount to the people smugglers." and "I lost my family, I lost my life, I lost everything, so let them say whatever they want." [35] According to Turkish authorities, investigations into the smuggling operations in Turkey showed that refugees were often tasked with helping smugglers sign up passengers for smuggling trips. It was also not uncommon for one of the passengers to be given the responsibility of driving the boat. No smuggler, with family in Turkey and a steady income from the lucrative smuggling trade, would want to end up illegally in Europe and risk not being able to return home, where he would be likely to face arrest anyway. [36] The President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan offered Alan's father Turkish citizenship. [37]

Reactions

Reactions to the photos

The photograph of Kurdi's body caused a dramatic upturn in international concern over the refugee crisis. French President François Hollande phoned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and some European leaders after the images of Kurdi emerged in the media. He said that the picture must be a reminder of the world's responsibility regarding refugees. [38] British Prime Minister David Cameron said he felt deeply moved by images of Kurdi. [39] Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny commented on the photographs of Kurdi and described the refugee crisis as a "human catastrophe" and found the pictures "absolutely shocking". [40]

The picture has been credited with causing a surge in donations to charities helping migrants and refugees, with one charity, the Migrant Offshore Aid Station, recording a 15-fold increase in donations within 24 hours of its publication. [41]

An article in The Guardian, on 22 December 2015, outlined a collection of what it described as "outrageous claims" against Abdullah Kurdi. [36] It was said that he was an opportunist who used his status as a Syrian refugee for personal gain. [36] Another source said that Abdullah was profiting from the tragedy, including selling his dead son's clothes to a museum in Paris. [36] Australian politician Cory Bernardi claimed that "The father sent them on that boat so he could get dental treatment". [36] Some anti-immigration politicians claimed that the image of Alan on the beach had been faked. [36]

Debate on the public responses to the pictures

Brendan O'Neill wrote in The Spectator on 3 September 2015 that: "The global spreading of this snapshot ... is justified as a way of raising awareness about the migrant crisis. Please. It's more like a snuff photo for progressives, dead-child porn, designed not to start a serious debate about migration in the 21st century but to elicit a self-satisfied feeling of sadness among Western observers." [42]

In contrast, Nick Logan of Global News argued on 4 September 2015: "Photojournalists sometimes capture images so powerful the public and policymakers can't ignore what the pictures show." He compared the images of Kurdi's body to the pictures taken during the Selma to Montgomery marches in which civil rights demonstrators were beaten by Alabama Highway Patrol troopers, and he said that widespread viewership of those images helped peaceful demonstrators in the passage of measures such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965. [43]

Impact on the 2015 Canadian federal election

The death of Kurdi and reports that his family had been trying to ultimately reach Canada had an immediate impact on domestic Canadian politics. Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party Stephen Harper cancelled a photo opportunity and addressed the issue in a campaign event, saying, "Yesterday, Laureen and I saw on the Internet, the picture of this young boy, Alan, dead on the beach. Look, I think, our reaction to that, you know the first thing that crossed our mind was remembering our son Ben at that age, running around like that". Minister of National Defence and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney cancelled an important announcement on Conservative efforts to protect the integrity of Canada's immigration system and the security of Canada. Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander announced he would be temporarily suspending his campaigning in the 2015 Canadian federal election to return to Ottawa to resume his ministerial duties and investigate the case of Alan Kurdi, whose uncle's application for refugee status had been rejected by his ministry. [44]

Leader of the Opposition and NDP leader Thomas Mulcair said that "Chris Alexander has a lot to answer for, but that's not where we are right now. We're worried about how we got here, how the collective international response has been so defective, how Canada has failed so completely." NDP MP Fin Donnelly was accused of using the tragic event as a means to garner votes, because he initially told reporters that he had personally handed a letter to Immigration Minister Chris Alexander urging the minister to look at the refugee application of Alan Kurdi's family, but that Canadian immigration authorities denied the family's application. [45] [46] However, later the aunt of Alan Kurdi revealed that the application was made only for Kurdi's uncle and was rejected because it was not complete. [47] Meanwhile, the Citizenship and Immigration Canada office clarified that they had not received the proper documentation to certify refugee status for the uncle's family. [3] [21] [48] Mulcair later defended Donnelly, saying that no apology was warranted because the letter had mentioned both families, and stated that he "couldn't be prouder to have someone of the strength, integrity and hard work as Fin Donnelly" in caucus. [49]

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau said that "you don't get to suddenly discover compassion in the middle of an election campaign" and that "All different stripes of governments in Canada have stepped up in times of crisis to accept people fleeing for their lives", he said. "Canadians get it. This is about doing the right thing, about living up to the values that we cherish as a country." [50] Trudeau also reiterated the Liberal promise made several months before the election to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees. [50]

Mural of Alan Kurdi in Frankfurt am Main Alan Kurdi Graffiti (cropped).jpg
Mural of Alan Kurdi in Frankfurt am Main

Green Party leader Elizabeth May criticized Stephen Harper's response to the crisis, noting the difficulty of sponsoring a refugee in Canada. On the Green Party website, May accused the government of lacking credibility on the issue, "having failed to honor previous [refugee] announcements". [51]

Reactions in the arts

A week following his death, around 30 Moroccans recreated the discovery of Kurdi's body in tribute in the Moroccan capital. [52] In January 2016, the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei posed like Kurdi by imitating his dead body as shown in the media pictures. [53] His gesture and the surrounding controversy were part of "using the image as an interface" [54] to communicate about social justice. The picture was published first in the Indian magazine India Today together with an interview of Ai Weiwei, and was also shown at the India Art Fair. [55]

In February 2016, Missy Higgins released a song titled "Oh Canada", dedicated to Alan Kurdi. [56]

In September 2018, hip hop artist Lupe Fiasco released a song titled "Alan Forever" on his album Drogas Wave. The song presents an alternate reality where Alan survived. [57]

Director Terry George created a scene in the 2016 film The Promise inspired by the Kurdi incident, to show parallels between Armenians fleeing the Ottoman Empire and modern refugees like Alan Kurdi. [58]

Other uses

In April 2017, the Mint of Finland revealed a commemorative coin celebrating the centenary of Finnish independence, using a picture of Alan Kurdi's body on the obverse side of the coin. This picture is accompanied with the text "Global Justice" (Globaali oikeudenmukaisuus). The death of Alan Kurdi is contrasted with a Finnish public library on the reverse side of the coin. [59]

In February 2019, the rescue ship Professor Albrecht Penck of the German sea rescue organization Sea-Eye was renamed to Alan Kurdi . [60] Following a similar conflict in early July 2019 with the German Sea-Watch organization rescue ship Sea-Watch 3 under the command of Carola Rackete, [61] Italian authorities also denied the Alan Kurdi access to the harbour of Lampedusa on 6 July 2019. [62] [63] [64] After international intervention, [65] the refugees eventually entered Malta on 7 July 2019. [66]

Legacy

A beach event was held by Defend International in memory of Alan Kurdi and other refugees, 4 September 2015. Moments of Mourn For Alan Kurdi DI September 2015 (cropped).jpg
A beach event was held by Defend International in memory of Alan Kurdi and other refugees, 4 September 2015.

Prayer events and moments of silence were held by various organisations including those held by NGOs. [67] [68] [69] President of Defend International "called on the international community to share equitably the responsibility for protecting, assisting and hosting refugees in accordance with principles of international solidarity and human rights". [67] [70] A host of a daily radio program wished that "Alan Kurdi's death would inspire us to create a world without borders", [71] while a commentary published at Spiegel Online suggested that Berlin needs to "reform or abolish its refugee policy". [72] [73] Artists and poets from all over the world shared tributes to Alan Kurdi. [67] [74] [75] [76] [77] [78] [79]

Over three months later, on Christmas Eve 2015, 3 News New Zealand said "Pictures of his lifeless body on a beach came to symbolise the wider tragedy. Can there have been a more moving, a more powerful image than the photograph of the tiny lifeless body of Aylan Kurdi being carried from the sea?" [80]

On 2 January 2016, a feature article on the BBC News website opened with the words: "It was one of those moments when the whole world seems to care." It went on to quote Alan Kurdi's aunt, Tima Kurdi: [81]

It was something about that picture, God put the light on that picture to wake up the world.

On 8 September 2015, the publication Bild removed all pictures, including those of Kurdi, from its print edition and website in response to complaints about its decision to publish images of Kurdi. The newspaper stated about "the power of pictures": "Only when one does not see them, one understands the magic which pictures create". [82]

The ISIL terrorist group incorporated Kurdi's death into their propaganda campaigns, using an image of Kurdi's corpse while claiming that God will punish those that dare to emigrate from nations with ISIL influences. The group also asserted that those who leave are likely to become apostates who will have their souls enter hell upon death.[ citation needed ]

Channel 4 television in the UK presents an annual Christmas message as an alternative to the Christmas Message of Queen Elizabeth II. In 2015, their speaker was Abdullah Kurdi, who said:

If a person shuts a door in someone's face, this is very difficult. When a door is opened they no longer feel humiliated. At this time of year I would like to ask you all to think about the pain of fathers, mothers and children who are seeking peace and security. We ask just for a little bit of sympathy from you. Hopefully next year the war will end in Syria and peace will reign all over the world. [80]

Book

Tima Kurdi released her memoir, The Boy on the Beach, in 2019, detailing the Kurdi family's life and attempts to flee Syria. [83]

See also

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fin Donnelly</span> Canadian politician

Fin Donnelly is a Canadian politician. He has served as the member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of British Columbia for the electoral district of Coquitlam-Burke Mountain since 2020, as part of the British Columbia New Democratic Party caucus. He previously served as member of Parliament (MP) as part of the federal NDP caucus, representing New Westminster—Coquitlam from 2009 to 2015, and Port Moody—Coquitlam from 2015 to 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Alexander (politician)</span> Canadian diplomat and politician

Christopher A. Alexander is a Canadian former diplomat and politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he represented the riding of Ajax—Pickering in the House of Commons of Canada from 2011 to 2015 and served as the minister of citizenship and immigration from 2013 to 2015. Alexander was the Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005.

Refugees of the Syrian civil war are citizens and permanent residents of Syria who have fled the country throughout the Syrian civil war. The pre-war population of the Syrian Arab Republic was estimated at 22 million (2017), including permanent residents. Of that number, the United Nations (UN) identified 13.5 million (2016) as displaced persons, requiring humanitarian assistance. Of these, since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011 more than six million (2016) were internally displaced, and around five million (2016) had crossed into other countries, seeking asylum or placed in Syrian refugee camps worldwide. It is often described as one of the largest refugee crises in history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Euphrates Region</span> One of seven de facto regions of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria

Euphrates Region, formerly Kobanî Canton, is the central of three original regions of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, comprising Ayn al-Arab District of the Aleppo Governorate, Tell Abyad District of the Raqqa Governorate, and the westernmost tip of the Ras al-Ayn Subdistrict of the Ras al-Ayn District of Al-Hasakah Governorate. Euphrates Region unilaterally declared autonomy in January 2014 and since de facto is under direct democratic government in line with the polyethnic Constitution of Rojava.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kobani</span> City in Aleppo, Syria

Kobanî, officially Ayn al-Arab, is a Kurdish-majority city in northern Syria, lying immediately south of the Syria–Turkey border. As a consequence of the Syrian civil war, the city came under the control of the Kurdish-majority People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in 2012 and became the administrative center of the Kobani Canton, later transformed into Euphrates Region of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Kobanî protests</span> Kurdish protests in Turkey

The 2014 Kobanî protests in Turkey were large-scale rallies by pro-People's Defense Units (YPG) protestors in Turkey which occurred in autumn 2014, as a spillover of the crisis in Kobanî. Large demonstrations unfolded in Turkey, and quickly descended into violence between protesters and the Turkish police. Several military incidents between Turkish forces and militants of the Youth Wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in south-eastern Turkey contributed to the escalation. Protests then spread to various cities in Turkey. Protesters were met with tear gas and water cannons, and initially 12 people were killed. A total of 31 people were killed in subsequent protesting up to 14 October.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 European migrant crisis</span> 2010s migrant crisis in the European Union

During 2015, there was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe. 1.3 million people came to the continent to request asylum, the most in a single year since World War II. They were mostly Syrians, but also included significant numbers from Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iraq, Eritrea, and the Balkans. The increase in asylum seekers has been attributed to factors such as the escalation of various wars in the Middle East and ISIL's territorial and military dominance in the region due to the Arab Winter, as well as Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt ceasing to accept Syrian asylum seekers.

Nilüfer Demir is a Turkish photojournalist based in Bodrum, Turkey. She has worked with the Doğan News Agency since she was a teenager. She covered the European migrant crisis during the summer of 2015, and her photographs of Alan Kurdi became world news on 2 September 2015. She came across the body of Kurdi on the beach and took a number of photos.

Burhan Bashir Bhat was a three-year-old boy who was killed by unidentified gunmen on 19 September 2015 when he and his father were walking home in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Europe Sees Syria</span> International activist campaign

Europe Sees Syria is an international activist campaign that began in Glasgow, Scotland after the death of Alan Kurdi whose image made global headlines after he drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, as part of the Syrian refugee crisis. The Europe Sees Syria campaign works to help refugees and tackling European refugee crisis. The campaign was founded as a Facebook page by Alexis Stearns. Although the activists run a stable social media pages, the overall Europe Sees Syria movement is a decentralised network, and has no formal hierarchy or structure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oh Canada (Missy Higgins song)</span> 2023 single by Missy Higgins

"Oh Canada" is a song by Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins, and inspired by Alan Kurdi—a drowned Syrian boy whose body washed up on a Turkish beach in September 2015. The track was released on 19 February 2016 with 100% of net profits from the song to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

Liz Sly is a British journalist based in Beirut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of the 2015 European migrant crisis</span>

This is a timeline of the European migrant crisis of 2015 and 2016.

Calais Action is a direct-giving refugee aid and advocacy group which is part of the UK grassroots aid movement.

Omran Daqneesh is a Syrian boy who, at age five, gained media attention after footage of him injured appeared on the Internet following a reported air strike.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Òscar Camps</span> Spanish lifeguard, entrepreneur and activist; founder and director of the NGO Proactiva Open Arms

Òscar Camps Gausachs, is a Catalan lifeguard, entrepreneur and activist, known mainly for being the founder and director of the NGO Proactiva Open Arms. He was awarded the Catalan Prize of the Year in 2015.

Tima Kurdi is a Syrian-Canadian author and human rights activist. Born in Damascus, she moved to Canada as a young adult and is based in Coquitlam, British Columbia. Kurdi is the author of The Boy on the Beach, which documents the circumstances that led to the death of her nephews Ghalib and Alan Kurdi, and their mother, Rehanna as they fled the Syrian civil war.

<i>The Boy on the Beach</i> 2019 memoir by Tima Kurdi

The Boy on the Beach is a 2018 memoir by Tima Kurdi about her family's attempts to escape the Syrian civil war and the circumstances that lead to the death of Alan Kurdi.

Doaa Al Zamel is a Syrian refugee and one of 11 survivors of the 2014 Malta migrant shipwreck that killed approximately 500 people.

References

  1. "Smugglers Jailed in Turkey Over Death of Syrian Toddler Aylan Kurdi". nbcnews.com. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  2. "Tima Kurdi is comforted by friend". news.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Canada denies Alan Kurdi's family applied for asylum". BBC. 3 September 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  4. "Aylan and Galip Kurdi: Everything we know about drowned Syrian refugee boys". The Daily Telegraph . 3 September 2015.
  5. "Syrian toddler's dad: 'Everything I was dreaming of is gone'". CNN. 3 September 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 Hopper, Tristin (3 September 2015). "The sad odyssey of Alan Kurdi and his family: Their search for new life ended in death". news.nationalpost.com. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  7. "They were all dead: Abdullah Kurdi describes losing his family at sea". CTV News. 3 September 2015.
  8. Cole, Diane (2018-08-31). "The Aunt Of The Drowned Syrian Boy Tells What Happened After The Tragedy". NPR. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
  9. Elgot, Jessica (3 September 2015). "Father of drowned boy Aylan Kurdi plans to return to Syria". the Guardian. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  10. Rayner, Gordon; Squires, Nick (3 September 2015). "'Let this be the last', says heartbroken father of Aylan and Galip Kurdi as he prepares to bury them". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  11. Smith, Helena (3 September 2015). "Aylan Kurdi: friends and family fill in gaps behind harrowing images". theguardian.com. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  12. Joe Parkinson in Istanbul; David George-Cosh in Toronto (3 September 2015). "Image of Drowned Syrian Boy Echoes Around World". WSJ.
  13. Chappell, Bill (28 November 2015). "Relatives of Drowned Syrian Boy Will Move to Canada". NPR . Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  14. "Death of Syrian toddler throws global spotlight onto refugees crisis". Los Angeles Times . 3 September 2015.
  15. The Canadian Press (11 September 2015). "Abdullah Kurdi faces smuggling allegations". Ottawa Community News. Archived from the original on 24 March 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  16. "Alan Kurdi drowned off the shores of Turkey. His family was trying to reach Canada". National Post . 3 September 2015.
  17. "Aylan Kurdi's Death Resonates in Canadian Election Campaign". The New York Times. 3 September 2015.
  18. 1 2 "Migrants mass in Turkey to take shortest route to Europe". Deseret News. August 16, 2015. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  19. 1 2 Los Angeles Times (3 September 2015). "Death of Syrian toddler throws global spotlight onto refugees crisis". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  20. Timmons, Heather (4 September 2015). "The father of Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi on the boat ride that killed his family". qz.com. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  21. 1 2 Thanh Ha, Tu. "Family of drowned boy did not apply for asylum: Ottawa". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  22. "Aylan bebeği taşıyan Mehmet Çıplak konuştu" (in Turkish). Haberturk. 6 September 2015. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  23. Justin Wm. Moyer (3 September 2015). "Aylan's story: How desperation left a 3-year-old boy washed up on a Turkish beach". The Washington Post. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  24. Joe Parkinson in Istanbul; David George-Cosh in Toronto (3 September 2015). "Image of Drowned Syrian Boy Echoes Around World". WSJ. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  25. "Drowned migrant boy Alan Kurdi is buried in Syria". BBC News. 4 September 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  26. "Iraqi family's dream of Europe ends in terror, loss". MSN . Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  27. "Syrian Kurds 'drive Islamic State out of Kobane'". BBC News. 26 January 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  28. "Islamic State kills at least 145 civilians in Syria's Kobani". Reuters. 26 June 2015.
  29. "Syria crisis: IS makes deadly return to Kobane - BBC News". BBC News.
  30. ""He slipped through my fingers" says father of Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi". Doğan News Agency. 3 September 2015. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  31. "Aylan Kurdi: Aylan Kurdi's father is a people smuggler, woman claims". The Sydney Morning Herald . 11 September 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2015.. Also contains the video of Zainab Abbas' interview on Network Ten
  32. "Aylan Kurdi: Drowned boy's father accused of being people smuggler in charge of boat that crashed". The Daily Telegraph . 11 September 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2015.[ permanent dead link ]
  33. 1 2 "Aylan Kurdi's father is a people smuggler, woman claims". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  34. "Syrian toddler Aylan's father drove capsized boat, other passengers say". Reuters. 11 September 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  35. "Account of Capsized Migrant Boat Is Disputed", by Ali Naban and Safa Majeed, The Wall Street Journal (paywalled)
  36. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Alan Kurdi's father on his family tragedy: 'I should have died with them'". The Guardian. 22 December 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  37. "Aylan'ın babası: Erdoğan vatandaşlık teklif etti - BBC Türkçe". BBC Türkçe (in Turkish). 8 September 2015.
  38. "French President calls Erdoğan over images of drowned Syrian boy, calls for common EU refugee policy". Daily Sabah . 3 September 2015.
  39. "Aylan Kurdi: David Cameron says he felt 'deeply moved' by images of dead Syrian boy but gives no details of plans to take in more refugees". The Independent . 3 September 2015.
  40. "'A young boy... washed up on beach like driftwood' - Taoiseach describes migrant crisis as 'human catastrophe'". Irish Independent . 3 September 2015.
  41. Henley, Jon (3 September 2015). "Britons rally to help people fleeing war and terror in Middle East". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  42. O'Neill, Brendan (3 September 2015). "Sharing a photo of a dead Syrian child isn't compassionate, it's narcissistic". The Spectator . Archived from the original on 5 September 2015.
  43. Logan, Nick (September 4, 2015). "These images changed public opinion. Has Alan Kurdi's photo done the same?". Global News . Retrieved September 11, 2015.
  44. Donnelly, Aileen (3 September 2015). "Chris Alexander suspends campaign after news that boy's family was planning to come to Canada". National Post . Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  45. "Life, death and politics The death of Alan Kurdi and the federal election campaign of 2015". Maclean's . 3 September 2015.
  46. "Canada says it never denied a refugee application for Alan Kurdi and his family". National Post . 3 September 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  47. Kestler-D'Amours, Jillian; MacCharles, Tonda; Gallant, Jacques (3 September 2015). "Tima Kurdi's pleading letter to allow brother to enter Canada revealed". Toronto Star . Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  48. "Aunt of Alan Kurdi, drowned Syrian boy, did not apply to sponsor family in Canada". CBC News. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  49. "Mulcair stands behind Donnelly, after Kurdi family confusi". CTV News. 11 September 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  50. 1 2 "Refugee crisis, drowned Syrian boy shift focus of election campaign". CBC News. 3 September 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  51. "Statement by Elizabeth May on the Syrian Refugee Crisis". 3 September 2015.
  52. Evans, Natalie (10 September 2015). "Aylan Kurdi's death recreated by 30 people dressed as Syrian boy on Moroccan beach". mirror.co.uk. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  53. Chung, Stephy (February 2016). "Ai Weiwei poses as dead Syrian child on beach". CNN. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  54. Cambre, Carolina (2019), Grønstad, Asbjørn; Vågnes, Øyvind (eds.), "Neither Visible Nor Hidden: The Structuring of the Sensible", Invisibility in Visual and Material Culture, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 127–147, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-16291-7_7, ISBN   978-3-030-16291-7 , retrieved 2024-04-09
  55. "Chinese artist Ai Weiwei poses as a drowned Syrian refugee toddler". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  56. Harmon, Steph (2016-02-19). "Missy Higgins releases Oh Canada, inspired by drowned Syrian boy Alan Kurdi: 'I cry every time I watch it'". the Guardian.
  57. "Lupe Fiasco Invents Alternate Realities On "Alan Forever" & "Jonylah Forever"". Genius. Retrieved 2018-09-24.
  58. Kaye, Don (2017-04-22). "Director Terry George: Why The Promise is Relevant Now". Den of Geek . Retrieved 2021-04-24. [...] George told us that the sequence — which takes up the final third of the movie — was eerily paralleled by events happening in the real world. [...] It was to the point where that little Kurdish Syrian boy who washed up dead on the beach in Greece, I recreated that.[...]
  59. "Drowned asylum seeker child, civil war execution special coins spark online fury". www.yle.fi. 25 April 2017. Retrieved 2017-04-26.
  60. "Retter wollen diese Woche zurückkehren". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). 2019-02-13. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  61. Anton, Julia (2019-07-01). "Mit dem Schicksal der "Sea-Watch 3" an Bord". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) (in German).
  62. "Rettungsschiff im Mittelmeer: Auch die "Alan Kurdi" nimmt Kurs auf Lampedusa" (in German). Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). 2019-07-05.
  63. "Deutsches Rettungsschiff "Alan Kurdi" nimmt 65 Migranten an Bord". Die Welt (in German). 2019-07-05.
  64. ""Alan Kurdi" hält sich an Salvinis Verbot". Tagesschau (in German). 2019-07-06.
  65. "Malta verweigert Rettungsschiff "Alan Kurdi" Einfahrt". Tagesschau (in German). Retrieved 2019-07-07.
  66. "Krise um deutsches Rettungsschiff beigelegt: Malta lässt alle Migranten an Land". FOCUS Online (in German). 2019-07-07.
  67. 1 2 3 4 "Refugee Crisis: Minutes of Mourn for Alan Kurdi and other refugees". Defend International. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  68. "A Child's Body on a Turkish Beach" . Retrieved 24 September 2015.[ permanent dead link ]
  69. "Drawing depicting two-year-old Alan Kurdi reads 'Omission also kills' during a candle-light tribute Friday in Barcelona" . Retrieved 10 September 2015.[ dead link ]
  70. "Minutes of Mourn for Aylan Kurdi" . Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  71. "May Alan Kurdi's Death Inspire Us to Create a World Without Borders". 11 September 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  72. Popp, Maximilian (17 September 2015). "Berlin Must Reform or Abolish Its Refugee Policy". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  73. "Berlin Must Reform or Abolish Its Refugee Policy" . Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  74. "A child of three". Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  75. "Alan Kurdi and Canada's Refugee Policy". Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  76. "Artists Around The World Respond To Tragic Death Of 3-Year-Old Syrian Refugee". Archived from the original on 4 September 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  77. "Cartoons pay tribute to drowned Syrian boy". 3 September 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  78. "Cartoonists Memorialize Alan Kurdi". Newsweek . 4 September 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  79. "Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi's photograph sparks social media tributes" . Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  80. 1 2 "Syrian father makes harrowing Christmas message". 3 News. 24 December 2015. Archived from the original on 24 December 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  81. "Alan Kurdi's aunt: 'My dead nephew's picture saved thousands of lives'". BBC News website. 2 January 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  82. Jackson, Jasper (8 September 2015). "German paper Bild removes all photos in protest over Alan Kurdi complaints". the Guardian. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  83. Cole, Diane (2018-08-31). "The Aunt Of The Drowned Syrian Boy Tells What Happened After The Tragedy". NPR. Retrieved 2022-08-03.