ERBIL, Iraq – The turmoil in Iraq has left the Turkmen community squeezed. On top of Turkey’s new policy that encourages them to side with the Kurds, the peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have assumed defense of a number of Turkmen settlements. While Sunni Turkmen criticize Ankara for abandoning its red lines, their Shiite kin blame it for the insurgency led by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and Sunni tribes.

The Shiite arguments point to the logistical support ISIS receives at the Turkish-Syrian border and Turkey’s protection against extradition of Tariq al-Hashemi, a former Iraqi vice president who is supportive of the Sunni rebellion. The Sunni Turkmen, for their part, believe that Turkey has forsaken the Turkmen community to avoid damaging its developing strategic ties with the KRG.

The debate over Turkey’s role heated up after ISIS captured Tal Afar and then a series of Turkmen settlements: the farming towns of Karakoyun, Upper Sherihan and Lower Sherihan, on the banks of the Tigris in Mosul province; the town of Bashir, in Kirkuk province; the villages of Chardagli and Biryayci, south of Kirkuk; and the villages of Karanaz, near Baquba, and Bastamli, near Tuz Khormato, in Salahaddin province.

While strolling along the Kirkuk Citadel, local businessman Casim M. Kebapcioglu spoke to Al-Monitor about the Turkmen’s emotional estrangement. “We used to see Turkey as sacred, and the Turks as blessed. When I was a child in the 1960s, our elders would ask us to go ask for coins from Turks visiting the tombs of the prophets Daniel and Ezra on their way back from Mecca. We would keep those pennies as a sacred treasure. Today, Iraq means nothing but money, oil and trade for Turkey.”