A ski resort in the Sharr Mountains near Kosovo’s border with North Macedonia.
Writer and photographer: Matt Nelson
Above the entrance to Court Avenue Brewing Co., a blue-and-gold flag flutters next to Iowa’s own. It might look like just another banner in the breeze, but it tells a story that stretches halfway around the world, from downtown Des Moines to the mountains of the Balkans. The Republic of Kosovo opened its consulate 10 years ago this January in a second-story office above CABCO, a milestone in a partnership that has united Iowans and Kosovars for more than 20 years.
Iowa’s official connection to Kosovo dates to 2003, when Iowa National Guard troops were deployed there to help keep the peace and rebuild a country still recovering from the violent breakup of Yugoslavia a decade earlier.
Kosovo declared its independence in 2008. Three years later, it entered into an official sister-state relationship with Iowa via the State Partnership Program of the National Guard Bureau, which now cites it as one of its most successful international partnerships.
Though the relationship was initiated by the Iowa National Guard, it was never envisioned to be solely a military partnership. Retired Major General Timothy Orr, who led the Iowa National Guard at the time, had rallied support for a broad Iowa-Kosovo partnership beyond the military. The Iowa Guard teamed up with Iowa Sister States, a volunteer nonprofit that manages the state’s international relationships. And to this day, the Iowa-Kosovo partnership is highly active in education, business, culture and athletics and still maintains close ties with the Iowa National Guard.
FROM PEACEKEEPERS TO PARTNERS
The Republic of Kosovo chose Des Moines for its third U.S. outpost, after its embassy in Washington, D.C., and a consulate in New York City. The office opened on Jan. 29, 2016.
“The engaged nature of the community here makes it feel like you are part of something truly special,” said Drilon Zogaj (Drih-LAHN ZO-guy), who serves as the chief of consular mission here after previous stints at Kosovo’s embassies in Slovenia and Washington, D.C. He said he feels at home here, thanks to Iowans’ warmth and openness.
While several other countries have honorary consular generals in Iowa, these are typically volunteer roles without dedicated offices. Kosovo’s government chose to open an office in Des Moines in large part because of the partnership that started with Iowa in 2003, plus the business, agricultural and social ties that have developed over the subsequent years.
Kosovo is much smaller than Iowa — about the size of seven counties — and it’s fenced in by nearly impenetrable mountains along the borders of Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia.
During a trip in 1937, the British writer Rebecca West described the mountains between Kosovo and Montenegro in a way that still resonates today. It’s “a colossal fortress,” she wrote, “this geological engineering feat that brings rock as it is seen only deep below earth in caverns and abysms and hangs it in an area that had seemed reserved for clouds.”
But between all those mountains, Kosovo’s rolling hills and green plains look a lot like Iowa, except perhaps where minarets tower over the tiny villages.
BRIDGING CONTINENTS, BUILDING COMMUNITY
Another group of Iowans got to see it for themselves in June 2025, when Kosovo’s consulate in Des Moines organized a trip. It started in Pristina, the capital and Des Moines’ sister city, where Communist-era housing blocks, mosques and calls to prayer evoke another world and time. But the busy squares, nightclubs and macchiato-slamming, chain-smoking cafe culture give it the feel of any cosmopolitan European capital. The profusion of American flags and a life-sized statue of Bill Clinton along the “Bulevardi Bill Klinton” give it a strange taste of home.
Orr led the delegation of city administrators, professors, retired service members and diplomats, a cross section of Iowa society with deep connections to Kosovo. During the trip two representatives from Ames, Karla McCollum and Cindy Hicks, signed a sister city agreement with the municipality of Podujevo, establishing the ninth such partnership between Iowa and Kosovo.
The trip also included meetings with Kosovo’s foreign minister and even Prime Minister Albin Kurti, who sent each of the Iowa delegation members home with a bottle of one of Kosovo’s finest Cabernets. The visitors also enjoyed a dinner at Stone Castle Winery, next to a massive castle resort in the hills of Kosovo’s Rahovec wine region.
The week-long trip included visits to museums, a university and a factory that still bottles RC Cola. There were city tours, dinners, cocktail hours and even a house party on Iowa Street in one of Pristina’s newer upscale neighborhoods where the streets are named for American states. At every turn, locals expressed gratitude for U.S. support of Kosovo and explained how their country wouldn’t be standing if NATO hadn’t intervened in 1999.
Above all, the trip reminded visitors and hosts alike that a spirit of community can cross borders.
Kosovo’s consulate in Des Moines “became the spark for something enduring,” Orr said. It’s “a living example of how friendship, shared values and cooperation can unite people across continents and create a lasting impact for both nations.”
The Republic of Kosovo celebrates its 18th Independence Day on Feb. 17.
Skyscrapers rise near a Serbian Orthodox church in Ferizaj, near the U.S. Army base at Camp Bondsteel.
Animal statues greet visitors to Stone Castle Vineyard and Winery in Rahovec, in the heart of Kosovo’s wine country.
Iowa National Guard retired Major Gen. Timothy Orr visits with and Mayor Shpejtim Bulliqi of Podujevo, which became Ames’ sister city in June 2025.
McDonald’s hasn’t spread to Kosovo yet, but you can find a good burger at “Meg Donald” in Peja, a sister city of Johnston.
A minaret towers over the capital city of Pristina.
Locals hosted the Iowa delegation at a patriotic house party on Iowa Street in Pristina.
Contributor Matt Nelson is a freelance writer and photographer based in Des Moines. His account of a baseball game in Japan was published in dsm May/June 2025.
