Government says it never got refugee application from family of drowned Syrian boys (original) (raw)

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Government says it never got refugee application from family of drowned Syrian boys

Published Sep 03, 2015 • Last updated Jun 02, 2020 • 4 minute read

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Abdullah Kurdi, 40, father of Syrian boys Alan, 3, and Galib, 5, who were washed up drowned on a beach near Turkish resort of Bodrum on Wednesday, cries as he waits for the delivery of their bodies outside a morgue in Mugla, Turkey, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015.

Abdullah Kurdi, 40, father of Syrian boys Alan, 3, and Galib, 5, who were washed up drowned on a beach near Turkish resort of Bodrum on Wednesday, cries as he waits for the delivery of their bodies outside a morgue in Mugla, Turkey, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015. Photo by Mehmet Can Meral /AP

Citizenship and Immigration Canada says it received no refugee application from the father of two drowned Syrian boys who have put a devastating human face to the Syrian refugee crisis.

It did, however, receive an application for Abdullah Kurdi’s brother, Mohammed, but said it was incomplete and did not meet regulatory requirements for proof of refugee status recognition.

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Still, an uncle of the three-year-old Syrian boy whose lifeless body has put a devastating human face on the Syrian refugee crisis has assailed Canada’s refugee process.

Rocco Logozzo said that the system doesn’t work, adding his family had money and plenty of room to house little Alan Kurdi and his brother and parents at his home in Coquitlam, B.C. and had put in a private sponsorship request. Logozzo said it was rejected in June.

A few hours later, however, Logozzo’s wife, Tima Kurdi, told a news conference that the family hadn’t made an official request for that family. The federal government confirmed that.

Tima Kurdi has another brother – not the father of the dead boy, his older brother and their mother – and says they put in a request to sponsor that brother.

She said a B.C. politician personally delivered a letter to Chris Alexander, the citizenship and immigration minister, asking for help from his office for young Alan Kurdi and his family.

The NDP candidate, Fin Donnelly, however, said the family had indeed pursued refugee status for the Kurdis and his letter reflected that. There was no immediate word whether the government got the request. Donnelly couldn’t be immediately reached for comment following Tima Kurdi’s news conference.

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Logozzo said he and Tima Kurdi have been grieving since hearing the news, reported yesterday by the Citizen, that their nephews, Alan, and his five-year-old brother, Ghalib, and their mother, Rehan, died as they tried to reach Europe from Syria.

The boys’ father, Abdullah, who is Tima Kurdi’s brother, survived after their speed boat capsized when it was struck by a large wave as they travelled from Turkey to a Greek island.

Logozzo said Abdullah told his sister that he put lifejackets on both boys, but they somehow slipped off when the boat flipped over.

Abdullah told Reuters Thursday that Canadian officials had now offered him citizenship after seeing what had happened to his family, but that he has declined.

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Eight other refugees also died when their boat overturned in a desperate flight from Turkey to the Greek Island of Kos.

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Abdullah identified the bodies of his family on Thursday, Reuters reported, and prepared to take them back to their home town of Kobani.

“I heard the news at five o’clock in this morning,” Tima Kurdi said Wednesday. The telephone call came from Ghuson Kurdi, the wife of another brother, Mohammad. “She had got a call from Abdullah, and all he said was, ‘my wife and two boys are dead.’ ”

A family photo of Alan and Ghalib Kurdi who died trying to reach Greece.

A family photo of Alan and Ghalib Kurdi who died trying to reach Greece.

The family had two strikes against them: Like thousands of other Syrian Kurdish refugees in Turkey, the UN would not register them as refugees, and the Turkish government would not grant them exit visas.

“I was trying to sponsor them, and I have my friends and my neighbours who helped me with the bank deposits, but we couldn’t get them out, and that is why they went in the boat. I was even paying rent for them in Turkey, but it is horrible the way they treat Syrians there,” Tima said.

Fin Donnelly, the MP for Port Moody-Coquitlam, said earlier in the day he’d hand-delivered the Kurdis’ file to Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander earlier this year. Alexander said he would look into it, Donnelly said, but the Kurdis’ application was rejected in June. Alexander could not be reached for comment.

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“This is horrific and heartbreaking news,” Donnelly said. “The frustration of waiting and the inaction has been terrible.”

Canada and Turkey have long been at loggerheads over the bottleneck blocking Syrian refugees in Turkey from finding their way to Canada. It is not uncommon for Kurds in Syria to be arbitrarily denied passports, and to have great difficulty registering as refugees with the UNHCR.

The Turkish government refuses to issue exit visas to unregistered refugees not holding valid passports.

With files from Terry Glavin

—

CORRECTION: An earlier version contained incorrect spellings of the first names of Alan and Galib Kurdi, which were provided by the Turkish government, and their aunt Tima Kurdi.

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