Aunt had tried to sponsor family who drowned off Turkey
By SUZAN FRASER and GREGORY KATZ, Associated Press
Sep 3, 2015 6:37 AM CDT
Paramilitary police officers investigate the scene before carrying the lifeless body of an unidentified migrant child, lifting it from the sea shore, near the Turkish resort of Bodrum, Turkey, early Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015. A number of migrants are known to have died and some are still reported missing,...   (Associated Press)

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Aylan Kurdi, whose 3-year-old body was captured face-down in the surf in images that have horrified the world, set out for Europe only after Canada rejected his family's refugee application, a Canadian lawmaker says.

Images of Aylan's body, clad in blue shorts and a red shirt on a Turkish beach, have heightened global attention to a wave of migration, driven by war and deprivation, that is unparalleled since World War II. They are also raising pressure on governments to be more welcoming to refugees fleeing the horror that Syria has become.

Aylan's aunt, who lives in the Vancouver area, had sought to get Canadian refugee status for her relatives in the Syrian town of Kobani, which was devastated by battles between Islamic State and Kurdish fighters, legislator Fin Donnelly told The Canadian Press. Donnelly submitted the application on the family's behalf.

Canadian immigration authorities rejected the application, in part because of the family's lack of exit visas to ease their passage out of Turkey and their lack of internationally recognized refugee status, the aunt, Teema Kurdi, told the newspaper the Ottawa Citizen. It said she is a hair stylist who moved to Canada more than 20 years ago.

Teema Kurdi said the family — her brother Abdullah, his wife Rehan and their two boys, 3-year-old Aylan and 5-year-old Galip— embarked on the perilous boat journey only after their bid to move to Canada was rejected.

"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," she told the Citizen.

The tides also washed up the bodies of Rehan and Galip on Turkey's Bodrum peninsula Wednesday. Abdullah survived the tragedy. In all, 12 migrants drowned when two boats carrying them from the Turkish coast to the Greek island of Kos capsized.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency said eight of the 12 were children. It said four suspected people-smugglers were detained Thursday on suspicion of acting as intermediaries in the illegal trafficking.

The agency said the suspects arrested on the Bodrum peninsula include at least one Syrian citizen. They are expected to appear in court Thursday to face charges.

Images of Aylan's body washing up on the shore and being taken away by a Turkish officer brought witnesses to tears and caused of wave of horror and reflection Thursday. The image was widely used in newspapers and on social media, leading some lawmakers to demand action.

"Be ashamed world," the Turkish newspaper Milliyet wrote.

Nadhim Zahawi of the British House of Commons said on Twitter that the picture should "make us all ashamed."

"I am sorry little angel, RIP," he wrote.

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Katz reported from London.

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This story has been corrected to show that the boy's name is Aylan, not Alyan, and the mother's name is Rehan, not Reha, based on information from her sister-in-law.

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