BODRUM, Turkey (AP) — Two suspected people-smugglers went on trial in Turkey on Thursday accused of causing the death of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi — whose drowning put a human face on the Syrian refugee crisis — and four other people. The image of the boy's lifeless body lying face down on a Turkish beach galvanized world attention on the refugee crisis, graphically illustrating the magnitude of the suffering, the lives destroyed and the treacherous journeys the migrants risk. The two have been charged with human smuggling and causing the deaths of five people "through deliberate negligence." The man said he was not a smuggler but a migrant who had been instructed to by Abdullah Kurdi to stay back and keep an eye on a Turkish smuggler who had the migrants' money until the group reached Greece. In return, the EU pledged money to help improve the condition of refugees, and to grant political concessions to Turkey, including an easing of visa restrictions and the fast-tracking of its EU membership process.
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