For some time, Turkey's attention has been concentrated on the plight of Syrian Turkmens as they fight the Assad regime and the Islamic State, while pleas from Iraqi Turkmens have largely fallen on deaf ears in Ankara. This discrepancy was made apparent after Iraqi Turkmen leaders recently complained of what they claim are the expansionist aims of the Iraqi Kurds at the expense of the Turkmens.

This indifference to the Iraqi Turkmens, is likely, however, to cause fresh headaches down the line for the government of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, accused of using the Iraq and Syrian Turkmens willy-nilly to advance its own agenda.

Iraqi Turkmen leaders are now claiming that the Kurdistan Regional Government is using the war against IS to expand its borders in northern Iraq. They say the KRG’s plans also include taking control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Turkmen leaders accused the KRG last week of digging a long trench along the front line in the battle against IS, which they claim is actually a demarcation line indicating the lands it wants to wrest from Baghdad.