DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — Iraqi Kurds' failed bid for independence — and their subsequent loss of Kirkuk city and other lands in that province that they had controlled for several years — left many Kurds in Turkey feeling crushed as well.

A man in the streets of predominately Kurdish Diyarbakir asked Al-Monitor recently what was happening in Kirkuk. “Last night when I saw the Hashid Shaabi [Popular Mobilization Units (PMU)] lowering the Kurdish flag [on the news], I cried until morning. Where are America and Europe, which were supposed to be supporting the Kurds?” he asked.

The Sept. 25 independence referendum, spearheaded by Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani, passed overwhelmingly. However, not only was the result nonbinding, it inflamed the central government in Baghdad, which this month stormed Kirkuk province and quickly reclaimed about 40% of the areas the KRG had held since 2014, including oil wells, the airport and a military base.

Since then, Diyarbakir's attention has been focused almost exclusively on Kirkuk. Kurds of Diyarbakir who were galvanized by the September independence referendum process cannot understand how Kirkuk fell so easily under the central government’s authority and were shocked by reports of the PMU's swift advances.