A congress of deputies at all levels from Gagauzia is being held today in Comrat. According to the press, 317 of the 500 invited participants are present in the hall. The deputies are expected to adopt a resolution, IPN reports.

The President of the Gagauz People’s Assembly, Dmitri Constantinov, accused the country’s leadership in his speech of deliberately refusing to accept Gagauzia’s representative in the Government in order to restrict access to information about financial allocations for the region.

He stated that “the central authorities do not recognize the autonomy, and in their statements, they often refer to certain regions but not to Gagauzia”.

Dmitri Constantinov proposed including a request for the opening of direct Chisinau-Moscow flights in the congress’s final resolution.

Gagauzia’s Governor, Evghenia Gutul, who was present at the event, stated that today’s congress offers a unique opportunity for the Gagauz people to express a unified stance on various issues and defend their interests before the central authorities. She also claimed that Chisinau had offered her a place in the Government in exchange for publicly renouncing cooperation with Russia, which she refused.

The central authorities have not commented on the congress in Comrat or the demands made.

Dr. Stefan Bejan, a historian and expert with the WatchDog.MD Community, noted in an opinion piece that today’s Gagauz deputies’ congress is not about the rights of the Gagauz people but serves political purposes aimed at blackmailing Chisinau. The expert stated that fugitive Ilan Shor and his affiliates are behind this initiative. Their goal is not to defend Gagauz rights but to prove their worth for financial support from the Kremlin.