Relatives lower the body of one of two Syrian toddlers, who drowned with their mother as they were trying to reach Greece, into a grave during their funeral in the Syrian border town of Kobani September 4, 2015.[Photo/Agenices]

Prime Minister Orban, emerging as one of the continent's most outspoken opponents of large-scale migration, took to the airwaves to warn of dire consequences if the influx was not checked.

"Now we talk about hundreds of thousands but next year we will talk about millions and there is no end to this," he said. "All of a sudden we will see that we are in a minority in our own continent."

Back in Turkey, only a few days after Aylan Kurdi and his family set off on their fatal voyage, more Syrian refugees were planning the same crossing to the Greek island of Kos.

"We saw the picture of the baby, (but) we have no other chance," said 36-year old Abdulmenem Alsatouf, a father of three who once ran a supermarket in the Syrian city of Idlib.