The retaking of Kirkuk by Iraqi forces in October sent shock waves throughout Iraq’s Kurdistan Region. Protests took place in Erbil, including at the US Consulate. Kurds took to social media to lament the Iraqi victory, criticizing the country as well as the Popular Mobilization Units, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) politicians, Iran and Turkey. The reverberations were also felt in Kurdish communities elsewhere in the Middle East.
“As a Kurd, I was saddened,” Alborz Rointan, a member of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI), told Al-Monitor about Kirkuk. “Iranian Kurds after the referendum took to the streets and showed their happiness.”