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.
