ANKARA // Canada rejected a request to take in the Syrian family whose mother and two young sons drowned this week trying to get to Europe, a Canadian lawmaker said.
The request involved the 3-year-old boy who washed up on a beach in Turkey, galvanizing a worldwide debate about migration.
Rehan Kurdi and her sons Aylan and Galip, who fled the Syrian town of Kobani, were among 12 migrants who drowned when two boats carrying them from the Turkish coast to the Greek island of Kos capsized.
Images of Aylan's body washing up on the shore on Wednesday and being taken away by a Turkish officer sparked witnesses to tears and prompted a widespread discussion about migration on Thursday in the news and on social media.
Canadian legislator Fin Donnelly told The Canadian Press that he had submitted a request on behalf on the boys' aunt, Teema Kurdi, who had wanted to bring the family to Canada.
Her request was turned down by Canadian immigration officials.
Teema Kurdi, based in the Vancouver area, is the sister of the drowned boys’ father Abdullah, who survived.
According to Turkish media, the family had fled Kobani, a city in northern Syria that was levelled in battles between ISIL militants and Kurdish fighters.
The tides also washed up the body of Aylan’s brother Galip on Hoca Burnu beach on Turkey’s Bodrum peninsula.
The heartbreaking images of Aylan, splashed across newspaper front pages, have increased the pressure on European leaders to take action to ease the suffering of those involved in a wave of migration not seen since the Second World War.
* Associated Press