Drowned Syrian boys' aunt wants to bring family to Canada

But the children’s father ‘isn’t ready to leave’ Kobani, where he buried his sons and wife

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Dozens of white balloons drifted over Vancouver’s harbor to honor the young Syrian boys whose deaths at sea sparked worldwide outrage at the refugee crisis.

The boys’ aunt, Tima Kurdi, stood looking at the sky Saturday after she and other mourners let go of the balloons, which had photos attached of 3-year-old Aylan and 5-year-old Ghalib.

With tears in her eyes, she tossed a bouquet of yellow flowers into the water.

Kurdi said she hopes to bring the rest of her family to Canada, which she made her home more than two decades ago.

Her brother, Abdullah, isn’t ready to leave his Syrian hometown of Kobani, where he returned and buried his sons and wife, Rehanna, on Friday, Kurdi said.

Tima Kurdi, center, aunt of brothers Alan and Ghalib Kurdi, who died as they fled with their family from Syria, releases a balloon in memory of the boys after a memorial service in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on Saturday, September 5, 2015.(Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP) — Tima Kurdi (center), aunt of brothers Aylan and Ghalib Kurdi, releases a balloon in memory of the boys after a memorial service in Vancouver, Canada, on September 5, 2015.(Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

They drowned after piling into an overloaded boat in Turkey in an attempt to reach the Greek island of Kos. Her brother was among the few survivors.

“One day, I will bring him here. He cannot be by himself there,” Kurdi said.

Family, friends and strangers packed a small theater for a memorial service on Saturday.

Kurdi tearfully recalled the last phone call Ghalib made to his grandfather, the night before he boarded the boat.

“He said to him, ‘Can you bring your truck here and take me? I don’t want to go with them to the water,'” she said.

Kurdi said his grandfather reassured Ghalib not to worry and that he’d be OK. In the background, he could hear Aylan laughing. “He never cried, Aylan. He always laughed. He doesn’t know how to cry.”

A paramilitary police officer carries the lifeless body of Aylan Kurdi, 3, after a number of migrants died and a smaller number were reported missing after boats carrying them to the Greek island of Kos capsized, near the Turkish resort of Bodrum early Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015. (AP/DHA) — A paramilitary police officer carries the lifeless body of Aylan Kurdi, 3, after a number of migrants died and a smaller number were reported missing after boats carrying them to the Greek island of Kos capsized, near the Turkish resort of Bodrum, September 2, 2015. (AP/DHA)

Kurdi wanted to bring both her brothers to Canada, but she applied first for her eldest sibling Mohammed, whose application was rejected as incomplete.

Kurdi said she doesn’t blame the Canadian government. It was that failed application that prompted Abdullah to embark on the journey with his family, she said. She sent him $5,000 to pay smugglers to take them in a boat.

“I blame myself because my brother does not have money,” she said.

The boat trip was the “only option” left for the family to flee the horrors in Syria, where militants from the Islamic State group had beheaded one of her sister-in-law’s relatives, she said.

Kurdi spoke to both her brothers by phone on Friday. Her grieving brother is proud of his children for becoming a symbol of the dire situation facing Syrian refugees, and hopes to see leaders take action.

“He said, ‘I don’t need anything from this world anymore. What I have is gone.’ But my kids, and my wife, it’s a wake-up call for the world. And hopefully they step in and help others.”