Kosovo Celebrates US Independence Day

The Kosovo Ceremonial Guard raised the US flag by Bill Clinton’s statue in Pristina in honour of US Independence Day, which many Kosovars celebrate as if it were a national holiday.

Bill Clinton’s Statue is an official landmark of the Kosovo capital city. Photo: BIRN/Atdhe Mulla

Members of the Kosovo Ceremonial Guard raised the US flag on Monday in Pristina, to celebrate US Independence Day, a red letter day in pro-American Kosovo.

Although the Fourth of July is not a national holiday in Kosovo, apart from congratulatary letters sent by Kosovo officials to the US Embassy, yearly celebrations are held on this day, and members of the Kosovo Security Forces don full uniform.

Agim Rexhepi, chairman of the “Friends of America” association, told BIRN that the round of events has now become local tradition.

“The goal of this event is to show genuine respect to the United States of America and to everything they have done for the Kosovo people,” Rexhepi said.

Todd Jacobus, Deputy Director of the NATO Advisory Team in Kosovo, told BIRN he was surprised by the extent of the celebration.

“It’s unbelievable to see the amount of appreciation that Kosovo has for United States. I had no idea that it will be celebrated in Kosovo as well, so on behalf of 300 million Americans back home, thank you very much for remembering our independence day, it’s truly a privilege to be here in Pristina and having this Independence Day with all of you,” Jacobus said.

Jacobus, who has fulfilled 33 years of service in the US Army, was previously enrolled full-time in the Iowa Army National Guard, with which Kosovo security forces conduct programs of military exchange apart from other civilian forms of cooperation.

Several municipalities across Kosovo are holding July 4 celebrations, including a basketball championship and a concert in the castle of Vushtrri, a town in northern Kosovo.

Kosovars attribute their independence to the US-led military intervention against Serbia, and locals often joke that Kosovo could well become America’s 53rd state. Three boulevards in Pristina are named after the US politicians Bill Clinton, George Bush and Robert Dole.

An entire generation of children in rural Kosovo have now got such names as Bill and Hillary, some with the full Bill Clinton version as an unlikely first name.

July Fourth commemorates the adoption of the US Declaration of Independence from the British Empire, on July 4, 1776.