ERBIL, Iraq — In a region where few people concur on anything, adversaries and enemies in the Middle East find themselves agreeing on one goal: to stop Iraq’s Kurds from forging ahead with a vote for independence on Monday.

As the Kurds rush headlong to embrace their region’s first steps toward independence, their neighbors and allies, led by the United States, are ratcheting up demands to cancel a referendum on independence from Iraq. They warn that it could unleash ethnic violence, tear Iraq apart and fracture the American-led coalition fighting Islamic state militants.

It is difficult to reconcile the fierce international objections with the euphoric flag-waving celebrations in Kurdish cities, where residents are convinced they will be voting for independence next week no matter what the world thinks.

In Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, fireworks streak across night skies and young men cruise past in cars, honking horns and chanting Kurdish national slogans. Red-white-and-green Kurdish flags snap in the wind beside posters and banners that implore Kurds – in four languages – to vote “yes” to pursue independence.