A photograph of the body of one of the toddlers, 3-year-old Alan Kurdi, washed up on the shore, appeared in newspapers around the world this week, prompting sympathy and outrage at the perceived inaction of developed nations in helping refugees.

Alan died along with his brother, Galib, 5, and their mother, Reham.

Abdullah Kurdi wept as the bodies of his sons and wife were buried alongside each other in the "Martyrs' Ceremony" in the predominantly Kurdish town of Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab, near at the border with Turkey.

Speaking at the border crossing, Kurdi said he hoped the death of his family would encourage Arab states to help Syrian refugees.

"I want from Arab governments - not European countries - to see (what happened to) my children, and because of them to help people," he said in footage posted online by a local radio station,cbs news reports.