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AN OPEN LETTER TO
THE HONORABLE MR. GEORGE W. BUSH
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
REGARDING THE NAME OF SKOPIE

March 30th, 2008

Dear Mr. Bush,

I would like to congratulate you on your presidency of the greatest and most powerful country in the world. May God keep you and your family safe and well. I am writing this letter to express my opinion about the abduction of the name “Macedonia” from the Greek people by the Slavs.

I am an American Citizen and very proud of it, living in Athens Greece. My daughter is American too, and once she’s of age our goal is to come back to the States in order to continue her studies. I teach English and the American way of life to students in secondary and high school. I never miss the chance to start a conversation with them about American’s great scholastic achievements, it’s high standard in medical research, and it’s great system of equality and justice for all.

However, for some time now, there has been a very unfair and irrational situation fermenting between Greece and its’ neighboring country called Skopie, (previously part of Yougoslavia).

Over 3000 years of history and archaelogical discoveries have uncovered facts showing that Macedonia is the Northern part of Greece and that Macedonians are a Greek race who have been speaking the Greek language and always had the Greek culture. The Slavonic language did not even exist then.

The oldest testimony that we have is in the Old Testament (Jeremias, 27:16; The Septuagint with Apocrypha: English Translation by Sir Lancelot C.L. Brenton, London 1851) [Hebrew text, Jeremias 46:16]. It states how the “Greek sword” will liberate the Jews from the Egyptians, “Greek sword” refers to Alexander the Great and his army. It is clear that Alexander, who was the King of Macedonia, was Greek!

Even the Allmighty God who is the One Who made all the nations of mankind, and everything in them, states that Macedonians are Greeks. Who are we to go against His word?

However, from the 4th until the 7th century A.C., the Slavic people continuously raided the areas belonging to the Byzantine Empire. They were savage, uncivilized had no written alphabet. They knew only how to fight and kill.

In the year 862 A.C. their leader Ratislav send embassadors in Constantinople and asked for missionaries to teach his people the Christian faith. The emperor Michael 3rd, accepted the request and delegated this extremely important task to two Greek brothers from Salonica called Cyrill and Methodius. They were christian monks and highly educated scholars of the church.

However, the slavic people had no alphabet, they didn’t know how to read or write. These two monks took the greek alphabet and modified it to suit the slavic language. To this day their alphabet is called “Cyrillic”. They went on to translate the Holy Scriptures and to introduce the Slavs to the true God. The oldest written document they have is this translation of the Holy Bible from Greek to Slavonic language.

Yet there’s this small country which for the first time (at about 1945) started to call themselves Macedonians, when they were under the communist leader Tito. It was he who conjured up the name “Yugoslavic Republic of Macedonia”. Basically it’s a communist “fruit”. Why would the US accept it? Even the language they speak now is a new slavonic dialect.

One can only but wonder why would a people try so fervently to snatch the name and identity of another country? Could it be envy? Could it be a loss of memory of who they really are?

They have gone as far as to claim Alexander the Great as their own. They say he was a Slav!!! What language did Alexander the Great speak then, in Slavic? In what language did he read Homer’s writings? Of cource they’ll have to explain how it could be, since Alexander the Great lived three hundred years before Christ. Their slavic ancestors simply did not even exist on the map.

It’s beyond understanding how a great country like the U.S. that its’ educational system surpasses all others in excellence and stands for truth and liberty persists in giving these people in Skopia the same privilege to the name “Macedonia” since it’s a Greek word.

Could it be the fault of Greece’s politicians? They aren’t diligent or informative enough to their counterparts in the European union and the U.S.?

Distortion of history due to ignorance could bring chaos in future generations. Therefore, lets do what our Lord Jesus Christ said “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the sons of God”. Telling people “the truth will set them free.”

Please Mr. President, your supporting the Skopie government could be detrimental to the whole area in the Balkans. Please reconsider the facts before taking sides. Destroying the history of a country simply by use of force would be tragic.

Thank you very much for your precious time,

Sincerely,

Meni BILALI