Kobani, Syria - Syrian brothers, three-year-old Aylan and five-year-old Galip Kurdi, and their mother, Rihana, were laid to rest in the Syrian town of Kobani on Friday, a Reuters witness said.
Photographs of the lifeless body of Aylan, washed up on the shore of a beach in Turkey, appeared in newspapers around the world this week, prompting sympathy and outrage at the perceived inaction of developed nations in helping refugees.
The mother, sons and nine others drowned while trying to reach Europe across the Aegean Sea.
Abdullah Kurdi, their father, wept as their bodies were buried alongside each other in the “Martyrs' Ceremony” in the predominantly Kurdish town of Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab, near at the border with Turkey.
Speaking at the border crossing, Kurdi said he hoped the death of his family would encourage Arab states to help Syrian refugees.
“I want Arab governments - not European countries - to see (what happened to) my children, and because of them to help people,” he said in footage posted online by a local radio station.
Reuters and AFP