The policeman who found Aylan: I thought of my son and said, dear God, if only he were alive...

The Turkish policeman who a few days ago spotted and picked up the dead body of the tragically deceased Aylan al-Kurdi (3) on a beach in Bodrum in the southwest of the country spoke to the Dogan agency about the moment that, after being captured in a photograph, shocked the world, reports the Patria News Agency.

Mehmet Ciplak stated that he first thought of his own son.

-When I approached the child, I said to myself: Dear God, if only he were alive. But he showed no signs of life. I broke down..., said the policeman.

-I have a 6-year-old son. The moment I saw that child... I thought of my son and started acting as if I were Aylan's father. It is impossible to describe in words how sad and tragic that sight was, Ciplak added.

He also says that he was not even aware that someone was photographing him. 'I was just doing my job,' he notes.

Aylan was buried on Friday in Kobane, a Syrian city on the border with Turkey, which was once heavily attacked by the Islamic State and almost completely destroyed, but has become a symbol of Kurdish resistance, writes Jutarnji.