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NARR: The tiny, landlocked, Balkan region of Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia on Sunday. The Serbian government said they would refuse to recognize the new state. Russia backs the Serbian postion, while the US and most of Europe back the creation of an independent Kosovo.
On Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, ethnic Albanian immigrants waved Albanian and American flags and honked their horns triumphantly.
AMBI: honking, shouting "God Bless America," "We're celebrating our independence"
NARR: Inside one of the neighborhood's Albanian-owned cafés, patrons watched the news unfold via satellite TV and received text message and cell phone updates from friends on the ground in Kosovo. Besnik Casrichi spoke to a friend in his hometown of Pristina, Kosovo's capital.
AMBI: Albanian TV
BESNIK CASRICHI: Things in Pristina—they said that everyone is outside, all the kids, everybody, they are trying to celebrate because it's one of the biggest things that's happened to the Albanian people in a thousand years.
The mood in the café was celebratory, but patrons also reflected on the suffering that brought them to this point. An estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians and 3,000 Serbs were killed in fighting between Albanian separatists and Serbian forces under Slobodan Milosevic.
Jack Kashrati says he lost family members during the war.
JACK KASHRATI: They died for this day, and they're very happy.
NARR: Kashrati was celebrating with his friend Shaban Hakshaz, whose entire village was destroyed.
SHABAN HAKSHAZ: It's a day to be happy and a day to remember.
NARR: On Sunday afternoon, ethnic Albanians from all over the New York region made their way to Times Square to celebrate.
AMBI: Honking, shouting, music
Conversation within Ambi:
TWO WOMEN DRIVING BY: This is the best day of my life! We're very happy!
LAUREN: Where are you from?
WOMEN: Kosovo, Pristina.
LAUREN: And where do you live now?
TWO WOMEN (in unison): New Jersey
More ambi, fade out.
NARR: As Albanians celebrated, there were reports of protests in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, where rioters threw stones at the US embassy.
NARR: Serbian immigrants here in New York also expressed their frustration.
NATASHA: I'm angry.
NARR: Natasha, who is Serbian, says she grew up in Yugoslavia. Throughout her childhood, watched her country gradually break apart.
NATASHA: It's like if Mexicans were to ask for Texas.
NARR: Now Natasha lives and works in a section of Astoria, Queens, that is home to immigrants from all over the Balkans. She says she's able to get along with people from all the former Yugoslav countries, but longs for the days when they were all united.
NATASHA: I wish that Yugoslavia was one country, that's how I was raised.
NARR: In Astoria, immigrants from all over the former Yugoslavia do seem to get along. At a café on the corner of 30th Street and 35th Avenue four friends shared another round of drinks. One is a Montenegrin, one Albanian, one Croatian and one Moroccan. To them, the conflicts in the Balkans are worlds away.
DENNIS FROM ALBANIA: My personal opinion is that people are people, despite their religion, they are all human, they should all get along with each other.
OTHERS: We'll drink to that!
AMBI: Clinking glasses
NARR: Most Serbs and Albanians long for peace. But this region, with its long history of ethnic strife, is prone to violence.
In Belgrade on Thursday, a large, government-sponsored protest, ended in rioting. Protesters burned the American flag, and set the US embassy aflame. A charred body was found in the embassy.
Ambassador Pavle Jevremovic condemned the attack.
AMBASSADOR PAVLE JEVREMOVIC: The prime minister issued an appeal for the people to be calm, but obviously something went wrong.
It's contrary to our policy, it's highly damaging, and I simply don't have strong enough words to disassociate and to condemn what's happened.
NARR: The Serbian government has promised not to use force against Kosovo, but has also vowed not to back down. Without some sort of compromise, some level of violence is likely to continue.
Lauren Feeney, Columbia Radio News