Photographs of Alan Kurdi

Aylan Kurdi or Alan Kurdi was a 3 year old Syrian-Kurdish boy from Kobane who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea in 2015, as part of the Syrian refugee crisis. He was in a boat which sank shortly after leaving Bodrum in Turkey, trying to reach the Greek island of Kos.

The photographs of his corpse washed ashore caused grave international concern; the photographer is journalist Nilufer Demir.

Description of the published photos of Kurdi's corpse

[This type of] "photos are often cynically cropped to exclude adults, in order to accentuate the vulnerability of the kid. Rather than focus on drowned adults, the Guardian and the Independent have instead focussed only on Aylan’s tiny, pathetic body".

At least one of the published photos shows no other persons.

The photo[s] show "the lifeless 3 year old wearing a red T-shirt, blue trousers and black shoes".

Reactions to the photos

Criticism of the general public's responses to the picture

In a 3 September 2015 The Spectator website article Brendan O'Neill said "The global spreading of this snapshot — which appears on the front page of the Independent today and inside the Guardian, and is even callously being turned into a meme by sections of the weeping Twitterati — 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." Furthermore "Patricia Holland wrote about this in the 1990s. She said the focus on kids in disaster or war zones was, weirdly, about making Westerners feel good: ‘As the children in the image reveal their vulnerability, we long to protect them and provide for their needs. Paradoxically, while we are moved by the image of the sorrowful child, we also welcome it, for it can arouse pleasurable emotions of tenderness.’ This narcissistic search for outlets for our tenderness has increased a million-fold with the dawn of the internet, when not only can we gawp at more images of destitute, destroyed kids, but we can republish them too, signalling our virtue and emotional sensitivity. But showing dead kids is, in my mind, emotionally insensitive. It can be cruel and unnecessary. It’s the victory of the visceral over the rational. And we really need a rational debate about the migrant crisis, rather than people holding up a dead-child snuff photo and saying: ‘I cried, therefore I’m good.’"

Canadian minister suspending election campaign

Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander announced he would be temporarily suspending his campaigning in the the 2015 Canadian federal election to return to Ottawa to resume his ministerial duties and investigate the case of Aylan Kurdi, whose family's application for refugee status in Canada had been rejected by his ministry.

Reporting controversy

Initially it was reported that Canadian immigration authorities denied the family's application. However, it is now being reported that the application was incomplete and only made for one family member.

Kurdi's life

Kurdi (c. 2012 – 2015) was from Kobane.

His family had tried to join their relatives in Canada. His aunt, Teema Kurdi, had applied for refugee status on their behalf. Their application was rejected by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada in part because they were denied an exit visa from Turkey.

The Kurdi family had hoped to join kin in Canada, relatives told Canadian reporters. Aylan’s aunt, identified as Teema Kurdi, had applied for refugee status on their behalf, but it was rejected, in part because they were unable to obtain formal refugee status or an exit visa from Turkish authorities.

On 2 September 2015 he and his mother and brother and others died after their boat had sailed from Turkey. A fisherman found Kurdi's corpse - and those of others - where the beach meets the surf.

See also

• Death of Aylan Kurdi

External links

• Middle East Eye article
• No Asylum Application from Syrian Boy's Father