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ISTANBUL, Sept. 26-- As Iraq's neighbors are cooperating with Baghdad to impose sanctions against the Iraqi Kurds over an independence referendum, Turkish analysts downplayed the possibility of a military intervention. Latest figures showed that at least 93 percent of the Kurdish voters favored independence of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region from Iraq. The regional balances don't allow medium-sized countries to take up arms against the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Hasan Koni, a professor of public international law at Istanbul Kultur University, told Xinhua. "It is not probable that Turkey, Iran and Iraq would militarily intervene against the Kurds," Koni added. Turkey and Iran, two immediate neighbors which have borders with the Kurdistan region, are seen as medium-sized powers, while Iraq itself has been weakened by years of bloody civil war following the U.S. occupation in 2003. Celalettine Yavuz, a former staff officer in the Turkish military, also believed that the chances are slim for Turkey and Iran to militarily intervene in the Kurdistan region. Huseyin Bagci, a professor of international relations in Ankara-based Middle East Technical University, echoed Yavuz, saying "not only the United States and Israel, but the whole world would oppose such an intervention." Most analysts thought that the U.S. would, despite its opposition to the referendum, block a possible military intervention. | 
