🔻 BazarKurdistan
The United States has officially opened what it calls the largest US consulate compound in the world in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.The inauguration on Wednesday brought together senior US diplomats and Kurdish leaders at the 50-acre complex, which cost about $796 million and sits along the Erbil–Shaqlawa highway on the city’s northeastern edge.
US Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Michael Rigas led the ceremony on behalf of the American president’s administration, calling the compound “a testament to the value of the relationship between the United States and the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.”
Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Masrour Barzani welcomed the opening as a major signal of continuing US engagement with the autonomous region’s institutions and economy. Regional media reported that the walled compound, able to host up to 1,000 people, includes administrative offices, residences, security and support facilities, and space for US businesses and agencies.
At the opening ceremony, Michael Rigas stated: “The building we are opening today is evidence of our commitment and a tangible symbol of America’s long-term partnership with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. In the coming period, we will strive to demonstrate the returns on U.S. investment in this consulate through tangible results toward a safer and stronger path.”
The consulate has been built on a 206,000-square-meter plot on the Erbil–Shaqlawa road in the northeast of the city, with construction costs estimated at around $800 million. Robert Palladino, former U.S. Consul General in Erbil, had previously described the complex as “very large.”
Designed as a multi-purpose small city, the complex includes, in addition to administrative offices, security facilities, service centers, and residential quarters for staff, and has the capacity to accommodate the simultaneous operation of nearly 1,000 people.
According to Al Jazeera, the purpose of constructing this project has been described as creating a center for managing U.S. political, diplomatic, security, and economic operations in the region.
The U.S. Deputy Secretary of State stated that the aim of launching this consulate is to expand U.S. interests, support investment, develop the economy and technology, and protect religious and ethnic minorities.
Nechirvan Barzani described the opening of the consulate as a “clear and political message” of the depth of historical cooperation with the United States, emphasizing that the Kurdistan Region seeks to become a bridge between governments, companies, and different societies.
The inauguration of this consulate comes as, last week, a drone attack on the strategic Kormor gas field in the Kurdistan Region led to a partial power outage in the area. The United States, which has invested millions of dollars in this field, strongly condemned the attack. Rigas called on Baghdad and Erbil to cooperate more seriously in confronting such groups.
Masrour Barzani, Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, also described the new U.S. consulate at the ceremony as “like a steadfast mountain in Erbil” and a sign of the long-standing bond between the people of Kurdistan, Iraq, and the United States. He added that the two sides had previously fought together against dictatorship and terrorism, and that the time for reconstruction and development has now arrived.
Meanwhile, Victoria Taylor, a former U.S. State Department official, described the opening of the complex as a reflection of active cooperation and the importance of relations between the two sides, emphasizing that having a dedicated consulate building would make the work of diplomats in Erbil more effective.
Political observers have assessed the opening of the U.S. consulate in Erbil as a sign of the continuation of U.S. presence and influence in northern Iraq and the strengthening of Washington’s strategic relations with the Kurdistan Region—an issue that is considered risky.
Reproduction of domination in a new form?
The opening of the large U.S. consulate in Erbil cannot be regarded merely as a routine diplomatic move; within the framework of post-colonial theories and the political economy of consumption, it is seen as a sign of the reproduction of domination in a new form. In post-colonial logic, colonialism no longer requires direct territorial occupation, but is exercised through security, economic, cultural, and scientific networks.
At the economic level, the U.S. consulate serves a function beyond politics and acts as a guarantor of capital security. This security is defined not primarily for the people, but for oil companies, banks, construction projects, and regional trade. At the same time, Erbil has become a laboratory of Western consumerism—a city based on malls, brands, American lifestyles, and dollar-based transactions. In this process, consumption becomes a tool for elite identity-building and a new form of symbolic colonialism.
In the cultural-political sphere, the United States exports not only goods, but also a model of governance, a lifestyle, and a particular narrative of development. The result of this process is the commodification of politics, the hollowing out of resistance, and the transformation of the citizen into a passive consumer. Therefore, the U.S. consulate in Erbil should be seen not merely as the representation of a state, but as the simultaneous representation of capital, consumption, and cultural hegemony in the Middle East.