Kurdi says haunting photo of Syrian boy risks prolonging Middle Eastern conflict
VANCOUVER — The aunt of a Syrian toddler who was shown in a haunting photo lying lifeless on a beach says the photograph this week of a bloody boy pulled from a collapsed building in Aleppo is heartbreaking, but she fears these kinds of images thwart peace efforts by adding fuel to the fire of a years-long conflict.
Tima Kurdi of Coquitlam, B.C., said Wednesday’s image of a stunned and weary-looking child, coated in dust and blood and perched on an orange seat in the back of an ambulance in civil war-ravaged Aleppo, is being used in the West to garner further support for the rebels battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Selective reporting will prolong the bloodshed and displacement, and instead of supporting either side world leaders need to focus on organizing peace talks that prioritize ending the conflict as soon as possible, she said.
“This image is the wrong message. The message should be: in the West we should talk to end the war in Syria,” Kurdi said in an interview Thursday.