Macedonia News - Macedonian Orthodox Youth Association of North America

Metodija Koloski As an American citizen of Macedonian descent, I want to express my heartfelt concern for the Macedonian people who are staring in the face of mass oppression as a result of bias in the world media. I would like to share what I believe to be the truth surrounding the Macedonian conflict and the world mass media's response to the current crisis. The Macedonians are fighting a formidable enemy who maintains a significant stake in the world mass media, resulting in prejudicial media coverage of the events that are unfolding. The truth about the Macedonian people and their noble struggle to preserve Macedonia as a democratic and peaceful state has not only been overshadowed, but also blatantly misrepresented.

Out of all the countries that emerged from the former unified nation of Yugoslavia, Macedonia was the only country that maintained peace for the past 10 years. Now that peace is being destroyed by the attacks of the Kosovar Albanian terrorists in their pursuit of creating a "Greater Albania." The Kosovar Albanian terrorists are trying to rip peace and democracy apart in Macedonia in their vain pursuit of aggrandizement and are killing innocent civilians in Macedonia, Christian and Muslim alike. The Kosovar Albanian terrorists are attacking the very people who opened not only the Macedonian border, but also their hearts to save Kosovar lives just 2 years ago. The Macedonian people acted in good faith in order to save their fellow man and this humane gesture is being returned with gunfire. This is the side of the story you do not see represented by the media.

The international community must know that Macedonia is a peaceful democracy, that all its citizens are treated as first class people, that all its minorities possess rights that are protected per the standards of the United Nations, that in Macedonia, all its minorities can elect their own representatives to any position in government, that in Macedonia, the minorities have rights to their own schools and that in Macedonia minorities are represented in the ruling coalition government. They must know that in Macedonia any citizen regardless of ethnicity can run for President and they have, and that in Macedonia the Macedonian people deserve the right to LIVE IN A COUNTRY FREE OF TERRORISM!

I would like to ask the Kosovar Albanian terrorists how can they complain about the alleged lack of rights given to their kin in Macedonia while at the same time they deny the most basic rights to the Macedonians living in Albania? How can such injustice be tolerated in this modern era?

World Leaders and Media, I beg of you to open your eyes to the real cause of the crisis in Macedonia. This is not a war for civil rights-this is an act of aggression based purely on Kosovar greed for additional territory! The media and the world leaders have all ignored the plans of many Albanian terrorists to form a "GREATER ALBANIA" that strips beautiful and proud countries of their land. Just two years ago the Macedonian community opened her arms to all refugees. We sheltered the unsheltered, we fed the starving and we gave water to the thirsty. Now these refugees call themselves rebels and return a bullet to our people instead of bread! Now they are not refugees they are terrorists! How can you, President Bush, and all world leaders ask our people to sit at a table and give away our culture and our land? The Macedonian government will not give up an inch of land to this terrorist invasion and honestly, should they? I ask the Proud Americans, would America do so? Let us imagine that there is a foreign country connected to the state of California and this country decides to invade the California border hoping to gain land and improve their economic condition through theft. Would our government ask to sit at a table and speak to the leaders of this terrorist organization? Or would our great, powerful military be dispatched to protect our borders? The answer is clear, so how can the world and how can the USA demand the Macedonian government do what they themselves would not? Let me be clear where my heart and head is today. I am a proud American who is extremely proud of his Macedonian heritage. America has given all of us opportunities in life we might not have had in other places in the world. Why not encourage the democratic Macedonian people to share our dream and not sentence them to lives of oppression and bloodshed?

I am proud to say I would die before I let the American and Macedonian flags fall to the ground! To this end Mr. President Bush, World Leaders, and Media, I write this appeal, give the Macedonian people and their homeland the respect they deserve. Support peace in Macedonia, support freedom and liberty across this globe! Peace and Democracy must prevail in Macedonia, and it will!

Regards,

Metodija A. Koloski
New Jersey, USA