In memory of Alan Kurdi, the refugee boy who died in 2015, a park in western Milan has been officially renamed “Alan Kurdi Park.” A ceremony was held on Friday in the Giambellino district. The renaming follows a series of commemorative events organized by young people from the neighborhood.
About a month ago, a mural was unveiled in the park showing Alan Kurdi embracing another child against a backdrop of sky and sea. Now the park officially bears the name of the Kurdish boy whose photo, wearing a red T-shirt and blue shorts, became a symbol of Europe’s failure on the refugee issue.
Alan Kurdi drowned in September 2015 at the age of three while his family, who were from Kobanê in Rojava, were attempting to flee across the sea to Europe. His body washed up on the Turkish coast near Bodrum. The photo of the dead child went around the world and became a memorial to the plight and dangers faced by refugees on the Mediterranean route.
The ceremony was attended by Tommaso Sacchi, Member of the Milan City Council Culture Committee; Santo Minniti, Mayor of the 6th District; Serkan Xozatli, representative of the Milan Kurdish Community; Nermin Şenişen, volunteer at the CRETA Education Day Center; and Margherita Reale, neighborhood representative. Elementary and middle school students from the Narcisi and Nazario Sauro schools also participated in the ceremony. The event concluded with a performance by actress Lella Costa.
At the inauguration, Tommaso Sacchi said that the renaming was an expression of a “promise kept” and an important signal. “Alan Kurdi Park is now a place of remembrance—and at the same time a place for children to play, even at a time when violence and inequality prevail in Gaza and elsewhere,” Sacchi said. The case of Alan Kurdi serves as a reminder that much remains to be done to achieve true equality, he added.
Cultural Advisor Tommaso Sacchi said at the ceremony: “The promise made a year ago with the 6th District Municipality has been kept. From today onwards, Giambellino Park is ‘Alan Kurdî Park’. The choice of this place, named in memory of a three-year-old child who lost his life in the Mediterranean, deeply moves me. This space, where the neighborhood children can play together, serves as a warning to us all, especially during this period of unacceptable violent conflict in Gaza. We must defend their rights and remember that more needs to be done to achieve real and tangible equality, as exemplified by Alan Kurdî.”