Ilir Bytyqi

New York | Date: May 22, 2019 | Duration: 53 minutes

They were the greatest. Their bosses were like, ‘We can’t find better workers than these.’ You know, they were very hard-working American Albanians. They had a goal, they wanted a better life for themselves, as our parents wanted when they emigrated in the ‘70s… to have a better future for us, and that’s what they wanted… they had fun, I mean, they worked and they had their fun, they had their rest, you know what I mean? It’s like eight hours of work, but actually there’s no such thing as eight hours of work, it’s more than ten, twelve hours a day… 

They enjoyed life, they’d always come and be like, ‘Oh, you’re a party spoiler.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, you know, listen…’ I was a chef at the time, and the restaurant that I worked for it was very busy, and me at the time, I didn’t have time for anything, believe it or not. And they would always call me, ‘Come on out, come on out…’ But when I went out with them, we had a blast… the nightclubs, out here in the city, they were full of life, full of life… they were always giving, always, donating to charities, to people in need, they were very, very good, very good, very cool brothers… and I was proud to have them.


Anna Di Lellio (interviewer, camera)

Ilir Bytyqi was born in 1973 in Aurora, Illinois, but spent part of his childhood and adolescence in Prizren, where his parents are from. He is the Executive Chef at Lessing’s Weddings in West Sayville, New York, and lives in Hampton Bays with his parents, his wife and two children. For the past twenty years, the Bytyqi family has struggled to obtain justice for Ilir’s younger brothers, Ylli, Mehmet and Agron, illegally detained and assassinated by Serbian security forces in the summer 1999, after the end of the war.

Ilir Bytyqi

Part One

Anna Di Lellio: Can you please tell us your name and something about your family?

Ilir Bytyqi: My name is Ilir Bytyqi, I am 46 years old. I’m an executive chef in a country club. My family are Albanian, Albanian immigrants from Kosovo. They emigrated to the US in the early 70s, you might wanna…

Anna Di Lellio: From where?

Ilir Bytyqi: Oh, from Kosovo, from Prizren, from the town of  Prizren.

Anna Di Lellio: Why did they come to US?

Ilir Bytyqi: Well, they came… first of all they came to the US for a better life, you know, and flee the atrocities that had been happening in Kosovo. Because during the war in 1999… it wasn’t just that, Serbs were always harassing, killing, mistreating Albanians, you know, since earlier, [since] 1912. So, they came to America for a better life, a better future.

Anna Di Lellio: Did they have any children?

Ilir Bytyqi: Ah yes, they did, they had my older brother Enver, and my sister Bukuria. They were, at the time, my brother was, at the time, I believe, two years old, my sister was about a year and a half I think, a year, I’m not one hundred percent sure, at the time. They emigrated in 1969, I mean, 1970, I’m sorry. So… They came for a better… you know, they were young. And then my dad worked as a mechanic, a diplomatic engineer, he was a very successful diplomatic engineer. 

In ‘71 they had my sister, and then they were here in rural Illinois, actually in Illinois, the  state of Illinois, when they emigrated from… actually they were in Italy, in Trieste, at the time, when they emigrated to the US. In ‘73 I was born, and after that, two years later, we had my brother, one of my brothers, Ylli, may he rest in peace, he was born in ‘74. ‘76,  Agron was born. Two years later Mehmet was born, in ‘78. Then Fatos, my younger brother was born in 1979.

We grew up in the US most of our lives. We were about  six or seven years old when we went to Ko… to live in Kosovo. And we lived in Kosovo about 14 years and then we came back to the US in the early ‘90s. I believe it was 1993 when we came back, and I worked as a chef… I started as a cook in the kitchen. Ylli, my brother, was a pizza man. My brothers Mehmet and Agron, they were construction workers… which… they were doing really well at the time.

And during the ‘90s we start hearing all the… before, before we emigrated to the US. We came back to the US, not emigrated. There were a lot of happenings, demonstrations, mistreatment of Albanian people in Kosovo, really, it was really bad, really bad, really bad. People were taken in the middle of the night, some neighbors of ours. They, Serbs, come and take them, and they just disappeared, nobody knows their whereabouts… until this day. Some of them…families don’t know their whereabouts.

And as I said, there were demonstrations, we participated in demonstrations at the time in Kosovo. And then it was time for us to flee because we were, our lives were in danger because we were Americans. And during the ‘90s, I think it was ‘92 or ‘93, we left Kosovo, we came to New York, to Chicago actually, where we met our dad, and then we came all together to New York, we’ve been living in New York ever since.

And then come the 1990s, ‘98, ‘99, we start seeing what was happening, really happening. The mistreatment of Albanians in Kosovo was brewing very badly… and people fleeing left and right, some to Albania, some to Macedonia, even to America, they were emigrating. So we start seeing on TV people being killed in villages, these were our friends, some of them friends of ours… and the mistreatment, the rapes, and one day we decided, the American Albanian community actually, the Vendlindja Thërret [Homeland Calling], they formed the Kosovo Liberation Army here, the Atlantic Brigade. 

And we saw that and then we got together with my, my brothers and myself, and my dad, we sat down and spoke. You know, we couldn’t stand it anymore because at the time we had our mom, my brother Fatos and my sister… they were in Kosovo during the war. And we sat down with our dad and we said, “Listen, we got to do something about this, because we can’t stand… “ You know, we don’t know… at the time we didn’t know what was going on with them, we don’t know if they were alive or dead.

Anna Di Lellio: May I ask you why did you… you went back to Kosovo, your family went back to Kosovo twice, right? They went back in ‘78.

Ilir Bytyqi: ‘79.

Anna Di Lellio: In ‘79, and then your mother and some of your siblings were again in Kosovo in ‘99?

Ilir Bytyqi: Yes, they were in Kosovo in ‘99.

Anna Di Lellio: They were living there or they were visiting?

Ilir Bytyqi: No, they were living there.

Anna Di Lellio: May I ask you if…why?

Ilyr Bytyqi: Well, my mom had family members, you know, she didn’t have anybody here in the US she was all alone with us kids and her husband, my dad. And they decided, she’s like, “We want to go visit family.” You know what I mean, she went to visit family and you what I mean, and at the time her mother, sisters, you know, as I said, there was nobody [in the US], she was an {makes air quotes} “Albanian emigrant” in the US, which she loves, the US today, she’s a proud American. And she decided to stay there,  you know, with her family, you know what I mean, close to her family. She was here about ten years actually, before she went back to Kosovo, to live in Kosovo.

Anna Di Lellio: Do you have any memories of growing up, you know, you grew up here, you lived here, as a young man or a child, and then also in Kosovo. What was it, how was it for you?

Ilir Bytyqi: Well, life was good, you know, I believe as any middle-class family, you know, it was, it wasn’t easy, it was hard. I started working when I was eight, nine years old, you know what I mean, like, a shopping boy, you know what I mean? I go knock on my neighbor’s door, I’ll see if you need milk, “Go get me bread.” You know what I mean? As a young kid, you know. Trying to make a buck, you know.

And same thing with my brothers, and whatchamacallit… It was good, people were close before, you know, before the war, Albanians are very hostable [sic] people, you, and they hosted very good, you know what I mean. Every night you have to be, go some… you know, over somebody’s house, you know what I mean, it was very, very exciting.

We finished school while we were there, you know, it was pretty, pretty good. Life was good, you know, you know. Okay, we weren’t rich or anything, we were middle-class, you know what I mean. Between middle-class and poor, you know what I mean. But you know, seven siblings, you know, it was, it was, there wasn’t… It wasn’t easy, you know, but it was good.

Anna Di Lellio: What did you like best? The US or Kosovo?

Ilir Bytyqi: I am born American, so definitely my blood runs in Albania, but I’m definitely American, American  born.

Anna Di Lellio: It wasn’t the same for your brothers Agron, Ylli and Mehmet?

Ilir Bytyqi: Yes, yes definitely. Actually that proves it, when the call came for… the American Albanian community gathered up here in the US and that proves it, that, they were the first ones to… we were all first to jump in and “Go!” you know what I mean. Going back to that,  in the 1990s, ‘99, when they, the massacres and rapes and killings were happening, we saw it all over TV, and on the news, and you know reports were coming in, and it was just like unbelievable. But we were like, you know what I mean? sat down talked with my dad and said, “We gotta to do something  about it…” We wanted all to join in, you know. 

But we decided, we were talking with my dad, and it was like, we have… somebody has to stay behind. Not even my dad, my dad, we left our dad on the side, you know, he wanted to go to fight too, which we were, from  the brothers, we were like, “No, I’m going, you…” He’s like, “No, I’m going, you stay…” You know what I mean. Then suddenly, whatever, we put, put to… short. And I got, I drew twice the short stick. Once I drew the short stick twice, we weren’t waiting for the third time, everybody is like, “That’s it, it’s all… all settled, you stay.” I was like, “No, no, you guys…” “One of you has to stay, I am the oldest,” you know, like…

They weren’t taking… didn’t take “No” for an answer so they gathered up, got everything, went and registered, you know, for the thing, for the… to go over to fight. And they fought, you know what I mean, they were, you know, they weren’t afraid, you know they, they were proud to go and do this, you call it humanitarian aid, you know, humanitarian aid. You know, and that’s what they were doing, aiding, doing a humanitarian aid to people when they were caught and killed, got killed, you know, transferred to… tortured and killed, you know. 

Anna Di Lellio: Do you remember the day they left?

Ilir Bytyqi: Yes, I do. It was a very emotional day, very emotional day. I told them, you know, “I expect you guys to come back,” you know, “be safe.” Now, unfortunately… I don’t know…They came back, but not alive.

Anna Di Lellio: Yeah, and when did they, when they left, how did you stay in touch with them?

Ilir Bytyqi: Through phone calls, through Tirana, they went to Albania, you know, they called me every couple of days after they were, you know, had a break, you know what I mean. And at the time, I one day get a phone call and they tell me that my mom, my mom, my mom, [a call] from my brothers, telling me that they met with my brothers and that the family is safe there in Albania: my mom, Fatos and my sister, and that was a relief, you know. I was like, “Oh good, great!” You know what I mean, because believe it or not for… The last time I saw my mom, sister and Fatos, it was in ‘98, I think it was March ‘98. And from that we didn’t know what was going on. The phone lines were cut off and nothing. So, it was like, it was a relief that we, my parents.. my mom, sister and brother Fatos were okay, safe in Albania. 

But whatchamacallit, afterwards the war ended, my parents returned to Kosovo, my mom returned to Kosovo and my brother and sister, and my brothers went in, with the Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo and whatchamacallit, and after the signing of the treaty, the Kumanova treaty, they…  The Detr… The agreement, my brothers decided to stay for the rebuilding of Kosovo, you know what I mean.

After they met with my mom and my brothers, with my family in Albania, whatchamacallit,  they had to go back into the war, but my parents, when after the war it was over, my parents, my mom, my family went back to Kosovo. So did my brothers, after the war was ended, and the Kumanova treaty was signed, and my brothers decided to stay in Kosovo, you know, to help with the rehabilit…rebuilding of Kosovo. And during the war, the Roman [Roma] family that we… assisted my family, my parents, my mom, my family, took care of my parents, you know what I mean, made sure that whatever they needed… Because Albanians couldn’t go out much, you know what I mean, during the night they had, during the day, even during the day they had to cover their windows with blankets, so this way you don’t see what’s going on or you know…

And the Roman [Roma] family was one of the families that helped my parents, you know what I mean, go shopping, you know anything that they needed to do. Also if you went to the bakery you waited on the line for three-four hours for a loaf of bread. But the Roman [Roma] family went and you know they got in and out, no problem. And after the war was over, before that, my brothers were televised when they arrived in Albania, whatchamacallit, they were part of the Kosovo Liberation Army and when the… A couple of days, a day later Serbs found out that my brothers… What happened with Serbs is, Serbian forces, once they found out that a member of the Kosovo Liberation Army, family, they know where, they know, one person they know that he is in the Kosovo Liberation Army and they know that families… The next day, or probably that night they go and execute the whole family, as a kind of revenge towards Albanians in Kosovo.

So my brothers were seen on TV by my neighbors, by my aunts, uncles,  and they were like, “Listen, we’ve seen them on TV…” My mom tried to deny it because she knew if they found out who they are, you know, who they are, they’d be executed. But next day one of the neighbor’s overheard the police officers talking about my parents’ apartment, telling them that is the apartment of the guys, you know from TV, the Kosovo Liberation Army guys, this is the apartment. And then the neighbor goes and tells my mom, “Listen, you have to leave.” It was about 10 o’clock in the morning, tells my mom, “You have to leave.” And my mom’s like, “Why?” “Because these guys are gonna come, they know who you are, whose parents are you, so they will probably come and execute you.”

So what happens that day, my mom had the room… another neighbor, because we were the same last name, the same guy, the neighbor that came has the last name, the Bytyqi name, last name, he came and told my mom, “Please, take my family too, so this way there’s no misunderstanding between the families.” So what happens is, us, the family, and the other Bytyqi family, and the Romans [Roma] escorted us to the bus station. We went into the bus station, took the bus and headed down to the Albanian border. 

So my parents, thank God, without no incident they passed through. But they were, there was, I’ve heard that there was, there were reports that the belongings of people were being…before they were leaving Albania, their IDs where being taken, they’ve been robbed blindly, if they caught a young woman or… they’d rape her, you know what I mean. And then one report… there was Drini, there’s a river called Drini, and one of the guys reported that there was a young girl floating on it, all bloody, after, I guess, they must have raped her and just threw her there and killed her.

So after the war ended the Roma family needed, needed help, being protected from, you know… because believe it or not, listen, if you were Roma you were known that yes, you work with Serbs, which most of them did, you know, they worked with Serbs and all that. But you know there were good families that helped and kept it to themselves, you know what I mean. And these are one of the guys that helped my family flee.

So when the war was over, they asked my brothers if they would do a kindness to just escort them towards, towards the border and then they would just leave. But I guess when they escorted my… my brothers escorted this Roma family, at the time there were no border visuals, you know, nobody knew where the border begins, where it ends and it was just… When they were caught, from reports that we know, about eight kilometers into Serbia, so they were pulled over by Serbian forces and kidnapped… They were persecuted for 15 days for {makes air quotes} “illegally entering” Yugoslavia at the time. But they were released in eleven days on  good behavior.

Anna Di Lellio: Did you know that, that was happening to them…you were here, right?

Ilir Bytyqi: Yes, we were here. We didn’t know at first, we didn’t know what was going on after they were arrested and taken to prison, the Roman [Roma] family assisted, called us and told us that, “This is what is happening, what’s going on and they had been arrested, they’re in prison, but we’ll keep an eye on it and make sure they’re being released. Once they get released, we’ll make sure that they’ll send them back and we’ll make sure they’re coming to Kosovo, so this way you guys could meet up.”

But unfortunately they were released in eleven days on good behavior, and one of the Roman [Roma]  family went to the prison to wait for them, you know, he waited for a long time and then he goes and says, “Listen, you guys told me that they’re being released today, where are they?” They’re like, “No, no, don’t worry about them, we already released them, they are already being taken to the border and sent to…” You know, he’s like, “Well, you should have said something, I came in the morning and you guys told they’re being released soon.” And he’s like, “No, don’t worry about it, we took care of that, so you don’t have to go, for your safety.” 

And whatchamacallit, that guy calls and says, “Listen, they were released, did you guys meet up with them?” And my family, my brother is like, “No.” But instead of taking my brothers back to Kosovo where they came in, international law is wherever you took them that’s where you gotta return them, they took them at the other end of Serbia, to Petrovosella [Petrovo Selo] near the border with Hungary where was the {makes air quotes}  “training camp.” And they were brutally tortured, they were brutally tortured and then executed, and they were dumped in a mass grave where there were contained about another 70 Albanian remains.

Anna Di Lellio: How did you find out what happened to them? Where were you? Where you already in Kosovo or…

Ilir Bytyqi: No, I was here in the US, Fatos was in Kosova at the time, running the investigation,  of course with the US authorities and with the US Embassy, unfortunately. Well, we, for two years we didn’t know where they were at, we thought they were in prison, we had numerous meetings, they said, “No, nothing to worry about, but Serbian officials…” They said…I had a few meetings with Serbian officials between 2000 and… 1999-200, and they said, “There is nothing to worry about, they’re probably in prison, nothing to stress out, they’ll be released, believe me, you know, being in KLA, you know, they’re fine, nothing to worry about.”

And then at the time, the Prime Minister, the Minister  of the Interior started looking, he was there at the time, 2001 when the bodies were discovered and the mass grave in Petrovosella, he was the one that said there were three Americans, they identified them by the court’s paperwork that they were my brothers, they were in the pocket after they were sent out to be executed, they had them as identification purposes {makes air quotes}.  And Sreten Lukić said himself at the time they were killed because they were Americans, the reason why they were killed was they joined the  bombing of the 1999… the NATO bombing. America bombed Serbia, it was kind of revenge, a terrorist act.

Anna Di Lellio: And how was it? When they didn’t come back, when they were not released from jail, you got the news, you’re in Kosovo. I mean, we do know what happened to your family, they were devastated, how did, how did that work? Did you stop working, you kept working, you started investigating…

Ilir Bytyqi: As I said, we were trying to investigate the whole thing and we were working here, Fatos was at the time in Europe doing things, and then we were going back and forth, we made almost, almost over… for the past twenty years probably I can say good, good, good 50, 60, 70 trips to Serbia, long. And we’re trying to find out what happened and the investigation from, from our point of view, which is, it’s been done and it is proven that people who are responsible for killing my brothers… but Serbia chooses not to prosecute them because they’re in the… First of all the investigation’s all done, as I said…

Anna Di Lellio: Who did it?

Ilir Bytyqi: The prosecutors, the FBI and every branch of the Serbian government, it’s been concrete, that the case is done, they know who the perpetrator is, at the time Prime Minister Vučić came in and told us, my brother, the US officials that, he said to our… in front of our attorney, to everybody, there was about ten, ten, ten of us in the room, told us that two people were responsible for it, one of them named Goran, said Guri, and the other one I can’t say anything yet because we aren’t one hundred percent sure if it’s, you know… but he named two people, one of them was Goran, called Guri, he was the one, he told us straight out that he was the one who killed my brothers.

So whatchamacallit, he knew exactly, for the Prime Minister to come out and say it… and then a couple of years later he said, “The family is threatening, is threatening me and kicking me over the head,” that we are…the proof is in the pudding, you know who did it, how it happened and today, this day, the person, Goran, Guri that is, he is responsible for killing my brothers, he is in the  President’s political party, he’s high up in the presidential political party, he’s one of the board members of President Vučić, and he chooses not to give him up.

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