When I was touring the museum at the Imam Ali Shrine in Karbala in Iraq recently, a coffin was brought into the shrine's mausoleum. The coffin contained the body of a young Turkmen killed in a clash with the Islamic State (IS). Nowadays the coffins of many killed in battle are brought to mausoleums in Karbala and Najaf. Fighting is in the north; mourning is in the south. Shiite Turkmens of Mosul and Tal Afar have been uprooted with the arrival of IS.

They are fighting on the front lines of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units. Local sources told me about 12,000 Turkmens have joined those forces. For example, of 5,000 fighters of the Ali Akbar Brigade, 500 are Turkmens from Tal Afar. Of the five wounded men I visited in early December in a Karbala hospital, two were Turkmens. Turkmens are also heavily represented in the Iraqi special forces of Surau al-Ittihadiya. During the past 18 months, Turkmens of Kirkuk and Tuz Khormato have been taking up arms.

The organizing of Turkmens under the Popular Mobilization Units has upset the plans of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to take over disputed areas. Before 2014, Turkmens had not joined the fight because they believed Turkey would ensure their rights. But more than 120,000 Turkmens fleeing Mosul and Tal Afar took refuge in places such as Baghdad, Najaf and Karbala, which were thought to be safer for Shiites. One of their refuges is the Imam Ali Shrine, which is meeting the needs of 1,250 families living there. Nearly everyone I spoke to in the camp, almost to the last person, expressed disappointment and anger with Turkey.

There are two main reasons why Turkmens have turned to Shiite authorities in the south of Iraq: First, Turkmens think the government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey has given up its protector role for Turkmens for the sake of Ankara’s economic relations with the KRG in the north. Second, they believe Turkey was responsible for the fall of Mosul to IS.