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| Veaceslav Craciun | |
Now that the election campaign is approaching, the agenda that will determine the debates between the political forces and their communication with voters takes clearer shape: danger of union, protection of Moldovan statehood and geopolitics. Those who will neglect the given themes risk becoming unconnected and unheard by society. Gagauz-Yeri, where the struggle against unionism became a mainstream topic during the last few weeks, can serve as an example.
Struggle against “union” – priority of Gagauz policy
The series of statements concerning the union with Romania, which during almost a month have been featured in news in Moldovan publications, impressed the inhabitants of the Autonomous Territorial Unit (ATU) the most. On the initiative of Bashkan Irina Vlah, an assembly in support of Moldovan statehood was held in the Gagauz village Tomai on February 24. Local councilors, mayors, deputies of the People’s Assembly and civic activists during several hours criticized in turn the promoters of the unionist movement and then adopted a resolution condemning the actions and calls in favor of Moldova’s union with Romania. In the list of about 20 points of the resolution, the word “Gagauz-Yeri” appears towards the end, when the participants in the event call on Turkey, Russia and the OSCE to assume the guaranteeing of the autonomous unit’s right to self-determination if Moldova loses its independence.
The anti-unionist rhetoric is being disseminated in Gagauz-Yeri at high level as well. For example, the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia (PAG) in its February 27 meeting adopted a statement concerning the support for the statehood of Republic of Moldova, which includes approximately the same desiderata as the resolution adopted in Tomai. In particular, the People’s Assembly called on the administration of Moldova “to openly take attitude against the officials, politicians and state institutions that want Moldova to unite with Romania” and on the State Chancellery “to take all the measures to condemn the decisions by the local authorities, which adopted statements on the union” and “to ban persons with dual nationality from holding senior posts in the state”.
One of the points of the statement distinguishes itself by its unordinary duplicity. This expresses the “Gagauz creed” about the problem of separatism in Moldova. Thus, the PAG ascertained that “namely the extension of the influence of unionist forces is a provocation for the territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova”. Given that the political leaders in Transnistria do not impose the condition that the region will form again part of Moldova only if the unionist forces are excluded from Moldovan politics, the statement adopted by the PAG starts to “vibrate” with ideas on the edge of the knife. In fact, the conclusion that in Comrat Transnistria is no longer considered a part of Moldova can be deduced from the statement adopted by the administration of Gagauz-Yeri.
As in the case of the assembly of February 24, the Gagauz deputies focused on the real problems of the population only towards the end of their statement. The very last point of the document contains the recommendation that the central bodies should focus more on the solving of the real problems of the population, related to the high price of electric power, worsening of the phenomenon of migration, pauperization of the population, high level of corruption, insufficiency of new jobs at modern production facilities.
Within the political activity, the subject of unionism and fighting of this are manifested differently in the ATU Gagauzia. In the assembly of February 24, 2018 was declared the year of the 100th anniversary of the Romanian occupation of the territory of Bessarabia. Following this decision, the authorities should work out a thematic plan of action in all the communities of the autonomous unit for the whole year. A protest on this subject was set by local activists to take place in Comrat on March 27. In other words, the union scarecrow will be used in the region for a long time yet and, following the electoral logic, the apogee of the turmoil will be witnessed in the active period of the election campaign.
Marginalized interests of Gagauz-Yeri
Surely, life in Gagauz-Yeri is not reduced to the unionism subject and to Romania. The authorities approve development strategies and programs to subsidize agricultural producers and deal with current issues. Or the autonomous unit would witness a collapse. But these issues occupy a very insignificant place in the social narrative.
Until now the Gagauz agenda was confuse and full of weak points. Enough legal gaps could be found in the objectives set by Comrat, while the pretention and accusing tone prevailed over concrete and consistent initiatives. Nevertheless, they concentrated, one way or another, on the interests of the autonomous unit. In other words, based on the interests of the local community, one could speak about arguments.
The situation is now different. The Gagauz agenda found itself marginalized in the political life of the region. The functioning of the Gagauz language and state support for programs of the kind, the respect for the powers of Gagauz-Yeri, the inefficient activity of the group of members of Parliament and the People’s Assembly, the forgotten promises of Moldovan politicians who came to power owing mainly to the support on the part of the Gagauz population are just some of the issues that the political elite of Gagauz-Yeri seemed to be fond of (justifiably!), but these were left aside in the recent past. Currently, the loudest in Comrat is not the appeal to solve the given problems, but the intention to drive Traian Basescu away and to condemn the “expansionist intentions” of Romania.
If we consider unofficially that the election campaign started, Gagauz-Yeri enters a confused state, forgetting about the own interests. The local leaders often used the national campaigns to promote the local agenda, starting with concrete projects from the social sphere and ending with political and populist subjects. These seldom were successful, but at least by their presence at rhetorical level they allowed forming an impression about the region’s interests.
The same will happen to the whole Moldovan society. The citizens from now start to center on false lines designed in political incubators – unionists and anti-unionists, pro-Europeans and pro-Russians, etc. Consequently, not corruption or the legal system, not economy and the social vulnerability of hundreds of thousands of citizens and not even the freedom of the media will be the main subjects for the population in elections. We will leave all these for another point in time. Now the “homeland is in danger” and it is more important to struggle “for the statehood” and “against the union”, or for the “reunion with the motherland Romania” and “against the hands of Moscow” – the producers of this trap are ready to serve any geopolitical preference.
Veaceslav Craciun, Comrat
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.