Turkish officer Mehmet Cıplak describes discovering drowned toddler Aylan Kurdi

The coffins of the two Syrian toddlers and their mother who drowned while they were trying to reach Greece.
REUTERS
The coffins of the two Syrian toddlers and their mother who drowned while they were trying to reach Greece.

The police officer who carried the lifeless body of refugee toddler Aylan Kurdi  after it washed up on the shores of the Turkish coastline  says  "I thought of my own son when I saw him".

Images of Gendarmerie Command Sergeant Major Mehmet Çıplak picking up and carrying the drowned boy sparked worldwide outrage and has pressured leaders to find effective long-term solutions to the devastating refugee crisis engulfing Europe.

Aylan , 3, drowned alongside his five-year-old brother Galip and their mother after the boat they were in capsized as they tried to reach Greece from Turkey. The family came from a Kurdish region of northern Syria.

Mehmet Çıplak stands next to the body of Aylan Kurdi (not seen) in Bodrum, Turkey, last week.
REUTERS
Mehmet Çıplak stands next to the body of Aylan Kurdi (not seen) in Bodrum, Turkey, last week.

On Monday, Command Sergeant Major Çıplak spoke to reporters from the Dogan News Agency on the beach near the resort of Bodrum where he found Aylan .

"I told myself  'God I hope he's alive', when I approached toddler Aylan. I craved, searched for a sign of life. However, I couldn't find any signs. I felt sick at heart. People kept asking me how I've managed to carry this heavy burden," Çıplak said.

"I put myself in  Aylan's  father's place. Above all, I am father to a six-year-old boy. I thought of my own son, the moment I've faced the lifeless body of toddler  Aylan  and I immediately put myself in  Aylan's  father's place. This is an indescribable pain."

The Dogan News Agency says Command Sergeant Major Çıplak has served as a Crime Scene Investigation officer with the gendarmerie for 18 years.

Command Sergeant Major Çıplak said he wasn't aware a photographer was present at the time. 

"Believe me, I didn't even think that image showing me carrying baby  Aylan  in my hands would be brought to the agenda of the world."

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The photographs of Aylan's tiny body washed up on the beach and Command Sergeant Major Çıplak carrying him from the shoreline went viral, starkly illustrating the plight of those caught in conflicts raging in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa. These concurrent crises have produced the largest displacement of people since World War II.

Aylan's father Abdullah Kurdi survived the capsizing and described how his two young sons slipped from his hands.

Three other children and seven adults also drowned in the failed crossing between Turkey and Greece.

brisbanetimes.com.au