Table of contents:
- How the Gagauz got to Moldova
- Long-standing ties with Russia
- Internal conflicts
- Defending identity and a course towards Russia
Video: Pro-Russian Gagauzia, or because of what Moldovans quarrel with the "Bessarabian Chechens"
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
In the era of the Ottoman Empire, the Turks called the Gagauz stubborn. Not wanting to accept Islam, this nation has preserved its Orthodox traditions and original culture for centuries. And today the Gagauzians of Moldova, where they settled two centuries ago, demonstrate firm conservative positions. Seeing their spiritual kinship with the Russians, the Turkic descendants openly declare their pro-Russian positions. Gagauzia, being an autonomy within the modern Moldavia, votes for the Customs Union and elevated the Russian language to the official rank.
How the Gagauz got to Moldova
Historians do not have a unified version of the origin of the Gagauz people. A number of researchers call the ancestors of this nation the medieval nomads of the Northern Black Sea region, who moved to the Balkans. According to another version, the Gagauz are Seljuk Turks who, together with the Polovtsy, created the Oguz state. They call the Gagauz and Turkic Bulgarians, and this is only a part of the existing versions. It is only genetically proven that this people is of Turkic origin. In the context of the ethnic community, the Gagauz people began their formation in Bulgaria. The famous Moldovan educator Chakir wrote about the existence of the Gagauz state of Dobrudja in the northeast of Bulgaria in the 14th century.
Long-standing ties with Russia
At the turn of the 18-19 centuries, in the light of the intensified repressions of the Ottoman authorities due to the Russian-Turkish wars, the Gagauz migrated to Bessarabia. The Budzhak region, loved by the foreigners who arrived, was part of the Russian Empire. At that time, Russia, which was consolidating its territories and strengthening its borders, guaranteed the migrants all kinds of benefits and vast land plots. In addition to land, volunteers were exempted from taxes, conscription and received a cash loan for the first time. Thus, the Gagauz who arrived in Russia gradually turned into prosperous farmers, gardeners and winegrowers as the first colonists in the south of Bessarabia. The Bessarabian period is considered the "golden age" in the history of the Gagauz people. Since that blissful time, a stable positive historical memory about Russia and the Russian people has been formed in the minds of the ethnos.
Internal conflicts
In 1906, with the first revolutionary inclinations in Russia, the Gagauzians proclaimed a separate independent Republic of Comrat with its center in Comrat. Today this city is the capital of the Autonomous Territorial Association of Gagauzia within Moldova. Then the central authorities suppressed the decisive uprising in 5 days. After the Bolshevik revolution, Bessarabia united with Romania, and the Gagauz closed in their villages. In the Great Patriotic War, after the historical region was already transferred to the USSR, the Moldavian Soviet Republic was formed. The question arose about the national rights of a separate ethnic group within Moldova, and the teaching of the Gagauz language was introduced.
During the heyday of the Soviet Union, the Gagauz people were active in local governance, boldly recalling their own identity. Very few Gagauzians were allowed in the power structures against the background of Moldovan representatives. Such oppression and exacerbated the internal conflict 80-90s. National social movements were formed, rallies and congresses of Gagauz deputies broke out. The meeting in November 1989 became especially important, when the Gagauzians announced the creation of an autonomy within Moldova. But Chisinau did not approve of the separatist ambitions, and Moscow did not react either. An important milestone then was the expert opinion on the people's independence of the Gagauz people with a sufficient number and economic profitability. In southern Moldova, where the Gagauz lived compactly, bold protests began. The people spoke out loud about the creation of a separate state. To tame the separatists, Moldovan nationalist volunteers moved to today's Gagauzia in October 1990. First Prime Minister Mircea Druk led 50 thousand resolute patriots, accompanied by detachments of the Moldovan militia. When rumors of an impending threat reached the inhabitants of the Gagauz villages, they resolutely armed themselves with axes, hammers, sticks and rebar, preparing for street battles. The Soviet soldiers who arrived in the conflict zone managed to stop the civil clashes.
Moldovan officials took a clear course towards rapprochement with the Romanians and abolished the Russian language in the country. The Gagauz people close to Russia declared their rejection of such prospects and proclaimed the Gagauz Republic. Moldova did not recognize such steps as legal, and the resource of Gagauzia was not enough for a separate existence. The efforts made were justified a few years later - by the end of 1994. The law on the special status of Gagauzia within Moldova became a reasonable consensus.
Defending identity and a course towards Russia
The Gagauzes are sometimes informally called Bessarabian Chechens. They are also related to the latter by the fact that with the collapse of the USSR they persistently but unsuccessfully tried to create their own separate state. Rejection of the oppression of everything Russian and attempts to impose the Moldovan language and culture on national minorities raised all previous internal conflicts to the surface.
During all the years of the existence of the Gagauz autonomy, mutual mistrust and misunderstanding between Chisinau and Comrat is only strengthening, only temporarily subsiding. One of the most controversial points is the geopolitical vector of Moldova and its relationship with the Russian Federation. When the Moldovans signed an association agreement with the European Union in 2013, Gagauzia initiated a referendum on the future of autonomy. Voters almost unanimously voted for their own right to self-determination with the intention of joining the Customs Union. Chisinau considered this plebiscite to be absolutely illegal. And in 2017, when the Moldovan authorities decided to fight foreign propaganda, the country banned the broadcast of Russian news, political and military programs. Comrat refused to carry out such instructions.
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