IPN analysis: Moldova’s Autonomous Territorial Unit Gagauzia started to establish relations with Romanian counties. But, a particularity of this cooperation is the fact that the partners are usually from regions where the Hungarian language is spoken. Are the new relations of Comrat an ordinary interregional cooperation or we are witnessing a new international political game in which the sides defend their own interests and, possibly, promote other interests?
Special partners
Gagauzia and the Romanian county Harghita are preparing to sign a cooperation agreement. As the executive authorities in Comrat informed, the document is to be coordinated with the relevant bodies of Moldova and Romania. Such relations with the regions of other countries became already something traditional for Gagauzia. The standard format of these relations, if judging by the content of the agreements, is the partnership in the economic, social and cultural-humanitarian spheres.
For Romania yet, such cooperation can have another feature too. A particularity of Harghita County is that the majority population there is formed by the Hungarians, or Szecklers, how they call themselves. The Hungarian-speaking population in this administrative unit represents 85%, which is the highest indicator among all the Romanian counties. Covasna County, which borders Harghita and where the Hungarians constitute 73% of the population, is considered by the Gagauz authorities a potential cooperation partner. The given information was provided to IPN by the Governor of Gagauzia Mihail Formuzal.
If following the appearance of Gagauzia’s interest in Romania’s Hungarians, we can see that the idea of establishing cooperation relations was put forward by the Romanian side. And what is more important, this idea was heard by representatives of the Szecklers County – a self-proclaimed territorial unit in Transylvania, which is not officially recognized by Bucharest. Thus, in August 2012, the Gagauz authorities received a letter signed by the mayor of Targu-Secuiesc town Bocor Tibor and the chairman of the local council Biro Levente. The two invited the administration of Gagauzia to agree the economic cooperation and to examine the principles of the autonomous territorial unit.
From the history of the ‘Hungarian matter’
It should be noted that the autonomous territorial unit represents the key goal in the activity of a certain part of the Hungarian community in Romania. This region formed part of Hungary until 1918. In 1920, there was signed the Treaty of Trianon, by which Transylvania was transferred to Romania. War Word II followed, when Transylvania passed, in an alternative way, within the jurisdiction of Budapest and Bucharest. Since then, this region has seen aspirations to obtain special powers for the Hungarian-speaking population in the composition of Romania.
In 1952, there was formed the Autonomous Hungarian Region, which absorbed the largest part of the current counties Covasna and Harghita. In 1960, a part of Mures County was added to it. It changed the name into the Autonomous Hungarian Region Mures with the capital in Targu-Mures. In 1968, three years after the coming of Nicolae Ceausescu to power, the autonomous region was eliminated within the administrative-territorial reform that annulled the regions and restored the traditional division of Romania into counties. There was also liquidated the Hungarian autonomous unit.
Since 1990, an active movement started among the Szecklers from Transylvania for restoring the autonomous unit within Romania. A congress of the representatives of the local authorities from the whole area was held in Odorheiul-Secuiesc on September 5, 2009. It proclaimed the creation of Szecklers County – an autonomous unit that included the largest part of the territory of the counties Harghita, Covasna and Mures. The central authorities of Romania described the decisions adopted by it as anti-constitutional.
Visit ‘outside constitutional area’
When information about the fact that the authorities of the unrecognized Szecklers County want to cooperate with Gagauzia appeared in the media, the official authorities of Romania reacted immediately. In particular, the Embassy of Romania in Moldova a sent a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova (IPN possesses a copy of this letter), where there was voiced hope that the visit of the high-ranking official will strictly respect the current constitutional framework and that the official interlocutors of the high-ranking guest from Moldova will be only representatives of autonomous territorial units recognized by the Constitution and the laws of Romania.
Because of this warning or for other reasons, the visit that the Gagauz delegation was to pay to Targu-Secuiesc in the autumn of 2012 didn’t take place. It was repeatedly postponed. In August 2013, it became known that Mihail Formuzal accepted the invitation. As far as it is known, the Gagauz leader took part in the annual summer school held in Baila Tusnad town, which usually involves representatives of Hungarian political parties and public movements that plead for the foundation of the Hungarian autonomous unit in Transylvania. Formuzal gave a speech centering on the Gagauz autonomous unit and the struggle of the Gagauz people for self-determination before the participants in this school. During this visit, an understanding was reached to start drafting the cooperation agreement between Gagauzia and the counties Harghita and Covasna. It should be noted that the Gagauz authorities issued no official communiqué concerning the results of the visit. The information was made public by a number of Gagauz Internet-resources and by Russian mass media, which made reference to “sources in the Executive Committee of Gagauzia”.
Hungary does not hide its interest
For the picture to be complete, the official Budapest, which officially supports the aspirations of the Hungarian community in Transylvania, shows an evident active spirit in Gagauzia too. The Embassy of Hungary in Chisinau over the last few years has financed a multitude of social projects in the region’s settlements – from the construction of a mini power plant to the extensive repair of a kindergarten. The symbolic importance of this support is described by the authorities of the region as support by this European state for the status of the Gagauz autonomous unit. The official representatives of Hungary do not hide this fact. Every time they go to Comrat they obligatorily make known their sympathies for this region of Moldova.
Generally speaking, for Hungary, which lost two thirds of its territory and its population as a result of World War II, the support for the autonomous units in the European countries represents a part of its state policy. It is natural that such a policy covers namely those regions that are compactly inhabited by Hungarians, which after 1920 started to form part of Hungary’s neighbors – Ukraine, Slovakia, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, and, surely Romania.
Interregional cooperation against interstate cooperation
If we put together all those mentioned, we can presume that the relations built now by Gagauzia with the Romanian counties can have a subtext that goes beyond the interregional cooperation. We will say that the cooperation between the two sides lacks economic potential and cannot be reciprocally advantageous as regards the development of the commercial relations. At the current stage, the political interest is much more evident.
Both Gagauzia and the unrecognized Szecklers County in their countries form part of the most ardent opponents of the active policy of Bucharest in Moldova. While Romania and Moldova are coming closer to each other consistently, some of their territories take their own steps that are incompatible with the tendencies of the two friend countries to come closer. It is also evident that Hungary, and probably other international forces that see the creation of a Hungarian autonomous unit in the center of Romania and the modification of this country’s organization as advantageous for them, are interested in strengthening the relations between Gagauzia and the Szecklers. Only time will show what this intricate game will lead to and if it will have winners.
Veaceslav Craciun, IPN
