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POST TIME: 15 September, 2015 00:00 00 AM
Drowned Aylan�s aunt urges EU to �open heart�
AFP

Drowned Aylan’s aunt urges EU to ‘open heart’

AFP, BRUSSELS: The aunt of three-year-old Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi whose drowning off Turkey shocked the world visited Brussels on Monday and tearfully urged the EU on Monday to adopt an emergency plan to redistribute refugees. “Open your heart and take action and come up with a shared plan—that’s why I’m here, to honor my brother’s family,” Teema Kurdi told a press conference outside European Union headquarters in Brussels. “It’s too late for Aylan and Ghalib and Rihana, but it’s not too late for thousands of children and their families who risk everything trying to reach safe haven,” said Teema, who flew in from her home in Canada. Teema’s brother Abdullah Kurdi buried his three year-old son Aylan, and his other young son Ghaleb and his wife Rihana in the Syrian flashpoint town of Kobane on September 4 after their flight to Europe on a boat ended in tragedy. Teema Kurdi spoke with Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg’s foreign minister, before he chairs an emergency EU meeting later Monday on a plan to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers from Greece, Hungary and Italy.