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| Veaceslav Craciun | |
First feature film in the Gagauz language
The film “Dünürcülük” (“matchmaking” in Gagauz), made by young film director Ivan Patraman, was presented in Comrat at the end of 2017, but in the villages of Gagauzia this was screened in the course of 2018. This is the first film in the Gagauz language and is special because it was made exclusively through crowdfunding – voluntary donations gathered through the Internet. The film was inspired by Gagauz writer Nicolai Baboglu’s work with the same name. The script was written by another Gagauz writer Feodor Marinoglu. The plot is based on the Gagauz variant of the classical story about Romeo and Juliet.
In 2018, the film had been in the focus of journalists for many times and deserves to be named one of the main cultural events in the region. This is the first independent work of the film director. Earlier Ivan Patraman played parts in several Russian serials. The film studio SerbestFilm founded by him in November announced a new production tentatively called “Dimitraș&Pitiraș”.
Commemoration of victims of famine of 1946 –1947
They actively discussed the institution of the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Famine of 1946 – 1947, which was staged artificially, but a decision wasn’t adopted at legislative level in Gagauzia. The tragedy of the last century experienced by the whole Gagauz people, which caused tens of thousands of casualties, in 2018 became a subject of polemic between Gagauz deputies. As a result, the initiative didn’t garner a majority of votes. The deputies who voted against argued they fear the subject could be interpreted politically, “as in Ukraine”.
The decision of the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia (APG-Y) wasn’t accepted unanimously. In a number of villages, they considered the possibility of eternalizing the memory of those who died during the famine by village council decisions. In some of the villages, memorial crosses were set up in the place of mass graves.
Completion of European program SARD
Among the results of the program “Support for agriculture and rural development in ATU Gagauzia and Taraclia district” (SARD) are the renovation of a series of social facilities, creation of 180 new jobs and launch of tens of new businesses.
The EU-funded project that was implemented with the assistance of UNDP influenced a lot the economic development of the southern region. Owing to the SARD, more than 60 young businessmen managed to transform their ideas into prosperous businesses. The local authorities learned to cooperate in the transportation of waste. A number of 41 social infrastructure facilities were renovated in Gagauzia and Taraclia district. There is no village or town in Gagauz-Yeri where at least one project wasn’t implemented under the SARD program.
In 2018, the three-year program was completed. In the summing up event in Comrat on December 11, the Governor of Gagauzia Irina Vlah said the cooperation with SARD was very successful and noted that the interaction with the Europeans donors will continue.
Law on support for the Gagauz language adopted
The issue of keeping and developing the national language of the people of Gagauzia has always been present in public discussions in the autonomous unit. In 2018, it entered the field of legislative decisions. On October 26, the People’s Assembly of Gagauz-Yeri adopted the law on the extension of the sphere of application of the Gagauzia language. The authors of the initiative, Ecaterina Jekova, Mihail Jelezoglo and Elena Caramit, worked on the draft for over a year and even held public debates and consultations.
Even if Gagauz society was unanimous as to the goals of the law, the quality of the regulatory document generated yet dissensions. The law defines the measures to promote the Gagauz language in society, such as teaching of some of the school subjects in Gagauz, communication with children in pre-school institutions in Gagauz, financial stimulation of teachers who teach in Gagauz, augmentation of the share of Gagauz content at the public broadcaster of Gagauzia, obligation for public functionaries to know the Gagauz language. Critics noted the irrationality of some of the provisions that could not be implemented.
Death of Stepan Topal and renaming of Lenin St
The year 2018 became the last year of life of Stepan Topal, the president of the self-proclaimed Gagauz Republic (1990 – 1995) and the symbol of local patriots. The politician died on September 29 at the age of 81. Immediately afterward, they started to discuss the eternalization of his name in the region. In Comrat, there was created an initiative group that collected several hundred signatures in favor of giving the name of Stepan Topal to the main street called Lenin.
Under the pressure of public opinion, the Comrat municipal council ultimately adopted the given decision. But the step wasn’t welcomed by everyone. A part of the townspeople protested, insisting on the intangibility of the Soviet street names. Consequently, the debates on the political values left by the former leader of the Gagauz people turned into discussions on the historical memory and national conscience of the people of Gagauzia. Towards the end of the year, the given issue became one of the main themes discussed in the public sphere in the region and it seems that the Gagauz people haven’t yet answered the main questions.
Erdogan’s visit and “terrorists” from “Orizont” Lyceum
The departing year for Gagauzia was the year of many visits paid by foreign high-ranking officials. In this regard, the visit made by the President of Turkey Recep Taiyyp Erdogan to Comrat on October 18, as part his two-day visit to Moldova, can be considered the key event. Gagauzia prepared rather seriously for the event with Erdogan’s portraits, Turkish flags and children staying by the roadway. The same day, several important social facilities were inaugurated in Gagauzia, such as a children’s creation house, the diagnosis center of a hospital and an old people’s home that were erected fully with Turkey’s support.
Despite the joyful feelings and offered presents, the visit was shadowed by the expulsion of a group of teachers of the network of Moldovan-Turkish lyceums “Orizont” to Turkey. This case shook Moldovan society before the visit. Among the expelled Turks who were unfoundedly labelled as “terrorists” and “partisans of Gulen” was Feridun Tufekci, director of the “Orizont” branch in Ceadâr-Lunga town, who had a large number of friends in Gagauzia. A number of activists tried to mount a protest on the day of Erdogan’s arrival, but the mayor’s office rejected the application.
Opening of “Fujikura”
At the start of the year, the automotive electric wiring factory of the Japanese company Fujikura started work in Comrat. The coming of this investor was an occasion for the authorities to declare the successful investment policy. Such an activity with expanding personnel, as the company plans to extend its production and to create over 1,000 jobs in the region, was really a first considerable investment in the autonomous unit during the past ten years. Besides this, according to representatives of the power, the company’s activity will bring additional revenues to the budget of Gagauzia.
Nevertheless, the experience of the Japanese factory in Gagauz-Yeri was ambiguous. This autumn the factory witnessed strikes. Some of the employees complained about the difficult working conditions and low salaries. Nevertheless, a new block of the Fujikura factory with larger production capacities is being erected on the territory of the Comrat industrial park.
Meetings of Irina Vlah and Vladimir Putin
The meetings of Irina Vlah and Vladimir Putin have been long disused in the information space of Gagauzia. There were held two such meetings – one in September as part of a Eurasian women’s forum held in St. Petersburg and another one in October during a visits paid as part of a Moldovan delegation led by President Igor Dodon to Moscow.
The media outlets affiliated to the Governor actively covered the discussions between Vlah and Putin. But Irina Vlah enjoyed greater advertising from the opposition politicians and the media controlled by them. Trying to challenge the interpersonal communication with the President of Russia or to prove the lack of any agreements, the opponents of the Governor generated the perpetuation of the subject and its development by comments of political experts and public activists. As a result, the chances of leaving the inhabitants of Gagauzia knowing nothing about the meeting of the two leaders were reduced to zero.
Struggle for local public broadcaster
In the course of the year, the public broadcaster of Gagauzia (TRG), more precisely its Supervisory Board, had been in the focus of the public. During the last days of 2017, the People’s Assembly dismissed the old composition of the Supervisory Board and named new members and later a new director general was elected. The editorial policy was modified as a result. The representatives of the Governor’s team accused the new Supervisory Board of political bias and of serving the interests of Irina Vlah’s opponent Nicolai Dudoglo. The latter said the broadcaster now stopped being the mouthpiece of the Governor and became objective. If studying the content of TRG’s YouTube channel, one can see that Irina Vlah appears rarer on TV than Dudoglo. In December alone, he was the protagonist of two programs that lasted for almost an hour and also featured in numerous reports about his political activity.
In 2018, the executive committee repeatedly requested TRG to cover particular event, including the meeting of Irina Vlah and Vladimir Putin as part of the presidential delegation. TRG refused to do this and only broadcast general information within a feature. Besides, the broadcaster’s administration accused the executive committee of encroaching upon its editorial independence. It’s clear that during the future election campaigns, the mutual accusations will only intensify.
Cutting of powers
The reduction of the powers of Gagauzia has always been on the agenda of public discussions, particularly in 2018. The reform of the Government of the Republic of Moldova was one of the reasons. Many of the services and departments of the executive were optimized and the autonomous unit lost control of many of such bodies on its territory. In response, a congress of deputies of all levels of Gagauz-Yeri was held in April, but the decisions concerning the measures to strengthen powers taken there were only declared and weren’t implemented.
The activity of the working group of Moldova’s Parliament and the People’s Assembly of Gagauz-Yeri showed the problem of powers of Comrat will not be solved in the nearest future. At the end of 2018, the organization CMI (crises management initiative) that provided expert support to the Moldovan and Gagauz representatives on the working group issued a summing up document for 2015 – 2018. The document is full of optimistic statistics concerning the number of joint meetings, studies and decisions. The authors even managed to somehow measure the rise in the level of confidence between the members of the working group from 40% in 2015 to 80% in 2018. In Gagauz-Yeri, these data are not considered convincing and it is said that the region this year continued to lose its administrative and politic potential.
IPN publishes in the Op-Ed rubric opinion pieces submitted by authors not affiliated with our editorial board. The opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily coincide with the opinions of our editorial board.
IPN note:
According to the information portal “Ruskii mir”, the scientific conference “World War I in the past of southern Bessarabia”, held to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I of 1914 – 1918, was organized by the Consultancy and Information Center “Dialog” in cooperation with the Scientific Society of Bulgarians in the Republic of Moldova within the project “Together we Restore Memory” that is implemented in Gagauzia and Taraclia district with support from the Foundation “Russkii mir”.