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| An illustration of little Aylan Kurdi by an Israeli artist Michel Kichka |
Staff correspondent, September 3, 2015, NewsCrunch
Little Aylan Kurdi, whose death is being mourned all over the world, spent all of his three years in the middle of war and strife.
His father Abdullah Kurdi worked as a barber in Damascus till 2011 when the civil war drove him out. He shifted to Kobani where Aylan Kurdi was probably born.
Kobani, in northern Syria, quickly became the battle ground between ISIS and the Kurds. ISIS managed to overcome heroic Kurdish resistance and captured the border town. But Kurdish militia with the help of US air cover took the town back, though it was just a rubble by this time.
Aylan Kurdi probably lived through the strife, learning to duck whenever he heard an overhead plane or sniper fire.
Abdullah Kurdi again fled with his family - wife, Aylan Kurdi and his younger brother, to a refugee camp just across the border in Turkey. His quest to give a better life to his family continued.
His plea to migrate to Canada was turned down despite having local sponsors, on technical grounds, reports Global and Mail.
He paid 4,000 euros to human smugglers to get across to Greece just 20 kms away. The two dinghies, which were packed with refugees, were sunk by the waves. Abdullah Kurdi managed to hold on to his wife and two kids on the overturned dinghy.
His elder son Aylan Kurdi, died first, and he let him go to help the other two. Then his second child died and he let him go to help his wife.
When Abdullah Kurdi turned, his wife had also died.
Aylan Kurdi washed up later on a Turkish beach and an image of him lying face down became the dark spot of humanity.