In the 1990s Kosovo’s first president, Ibrahim Rugova, ended his news conferences every Friday with the words “God bless America and our western friends”. The phrase stuck with the public and the sentiment only grew stronger when Bill Clinton ordered Nato to bomb Serbian targets during the Kosovo war in 1999.
- Klinton Bajgora, 13, named in honour of Bill Clinton, sits between his parents at their home in Podujevo.
Nowadays it is hard to find any physical trace of the war. A generation has grown up in an environment of peace and relative stability. However, that pro-US sentiment is still present.
- A large American flag, along with slogans of thanks to Bill Clinton and some of the countries that recognised the independence of Kosovo, painted in 2008 on a wall in Gjilan.
- A dress shop in Pristina.
One of the main roads in the capital, Pristina, is called Bulevardi Bill Klinton, for the US president at the time of the war. Other roads, as well as schools and sports centres, are named after Clinton’s secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, the US congressman Eliot Engel, the former president George Bush and the leaders of other Nato member countries including the UK’s Tony Blair, of whom Kosovo is particularly fond.
Independence Day
Every 4 July, Independence Day in the US, firefighters in Pristina clean a statue of Bill Clinton in a central square and replace the American flag that flies nearby. The ceremony is organised by the Association of Friends of America in Kosovo and is attended by public and military officials and representatives of the US embassy.
- Kosovan guards during the flag-change ceremony.
There is also an annual children’s basketball tournament called Thank You USA to mark Independence Day.
- Participants in the basketball tournament.
American troops have been present in Kosovo since 1999 as part of a Nato peacekeeping mission. Today there are 600-700 US Nato soldiers on Kosovan soil.
- US and Kosovan military officials meet in Ferizaj.
The mayor of Llashticë, a town in south-east Kosovo, is a big fan of the US and has invested thousands of euros in recent years in decorating the town with stars and stripes and posters that refer to key moments in the course of the war.
State 51
Many American companies and institutions have economic and labour links with Kosovo.
- Restaurant Route 66 in Pristina.
- A farewell celebration in a bar in Pristina for someone who will soon move to the US to work.
- US military uniforms and other items for sale at the Sunday flea market in Fushë Kosova, outside Pristina
- Agim Rexhepi, president of the Association of Friends of America in Kosovo, poses for a portrait in his office in Pristina. Right: Arlind Basha displays his tattoo of an eagle with verses in English that refer to the Kosovan Albanian national identity.
The Vali Ranch leisure complex in Perlepnicë, near the city of Gjilan, seeks to recreate elements of the American West and US culture.
- A Vali Ranch worker returns a horse to the stables after a jump show.
There are numerous gun ranges in Kosovo, many of them opened by the state after the war. They also act as a way to control gun ownership in Kosovo.
- Inside a shooting range in Obiliq, on the outskirts of Pristina.
Throughout Kosovo there are many private houses, restaurants, hotels and public buildings built as imitations of the White House.
- White House restaurant, in the Sharr Mountains national park near Prizren, is a popular tourist attraction.
- Bill Klinton Street, in Peja, western Kosovo. Right: An image of the Statue of Liberty in the living room of Ruzhdi Kuçi, known as Amerikani, whose home is full of US-related decorations.
- Devoted to the US: Jashar Jashari and Agim Vatovci.
Diaspora in the US
Many Kosovans live in the United States, which along with Germany and Switzerland was one of the main host countries for Kosovan refugees in the 1990s. Some, like Qamil Brahimi, who fled to make a new life in New York during the war, have properties back in Kosovo to which they return during holidays.
- Qamil Brahimi’s daughter Valbona, an American citizen of Kosovan origin, at one of the houses he built in his home town of Ferizaj.
Eddie Steven’s father, Rox, arrived in the US in the 1990s as a refugee and began a new life with an American woman. He built the California Resort on the outskirts of Pristina, and every summer his family returns to enjoy the park.
- Eddie Steven, from California, wearing American flag shorts, at the California Resort his father built.
As long as there are no major changes in US policy towards Kosovo, there is no reason to believe the territory’s devotion will fade. The stars and stripes will continue to be hoisted in Pristina every 4 July.
