Tragic picture of Aylan Kurdi galvanises Europe to respond

THE photographer who shot the heartbreaking image of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi explains what she was thinking when she saw him on the beach.

ADDS IDENTIFICATION OF CHILD 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. The family — Abdullah, his wife Rehan and their two boys, 3-year-old Aylan and 5-year-old Galip — embarked on the perilous boat journey only after their bid to move to Canada was rejected. The tides also washed up the bodies of Rehan and Galip on Turkey's Bodrum peninsula Wednesday, Abdullah survived the tragedy. (AP Photo/DHA) TURKEY OUT

THE PHOTOGRAPHER of the heatbreaking image of Syrian boy, Aylan Kurdi, has spoken of the moment she took the photo that has reverberated around the world.

“At that moment, where I saw the three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, I was petrified” Nilufer Demir, told Turkey’s Dogan News Agency.

“The only thing I could do was to make heard his outcry. At that moment, I believed I would be able to achieve this by triggering the shutter of my camera and took his picture.”

The photographer, who has been covering refugees leaving the Turkish coast for 12 years, said she then noticed his brother lying close by without any lifejacket on.

“I have pictured, witnessed many migrant incidents since 2003 in this region, their deaths, their drama. I hope from today, this will change,” she said.

Since its publication the picture of Aylan Kurdi has become the defining image of Europe’s migrant crisis that has been credited with prompting a major shift in public opinion. In recent days there has been an outpouring of emotion around the world with many offering their homes and items to refugees for the first time.

A petition on The Independent’s website welcoming people to the UK has gained more than 200,000 signatures, while others have offered free clothes and accommodation. Rome’s Migrant Offshore Aid Station — which survives on public donations to rescue people from the Mediterranean — said it had received more than $1.6 million since the picture was published.

“There is an enormous response from the public, the tide of indifference is shifting,” a spokesman for the agency said.

Aylan Kurdi pictured in Canada. Picture: Tima Kurdi /The Canadian Press via AP.

Commentators have said the impact is comparable to the iconic shot of a naked girl running towards the camera from a napalm attack during the Vietnam War.

It’s also sparked a response from Europe’s leaders after months of shifting the blame. While the picture was not widely published in France’s papers, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls pinned a tweet to the top of his feed saying “He had a name — Aylan Kurdi. It is urgent that we act, that Europe mobilises itself.” Within hours, France and Germany agreed the European Union should impose binding quotas on the numbers of migrants that member states accept.

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to accept “thousands more” Syrians from refugee camps and pledged an extra $219 million aid to Syria and neighbouring countries who were also bearing the brunt of displaced people.

The sentiment has also been reflected in newspapers across Europe. Former Daily Mirror editor Roy Greenslade who now writes for The Guardian said it was “such a shocking image that even those editors who have run anti-refugee propaganda for week upon week felt they must give it full measure”.

An editorial in The Times said there was a “tardy wave of public anger at Britain’s perceived bystander status.” France’s OpinionWay polling institute Bruno Jeambart said “Now and again, there are things that trigger public opinion and make things move.”

“Without a doubt, (the photographs of Aylan) has already had an impact on a political level.”

“(The photographs) could influence and change political positions,” he said.