In the Transnistrian region, there is an oppressive regime that speculates on particular historical factors. We are Moldovans exactly to the extent to which the Bavarians are Bavarians. But just as the Bavarians are Germans, we are Romanians. And this must be understood by absolutely everyone, including our fellow citizens from the Transnistrian region, the permanent expert of IPN’s project Igor Boțan responded to the question about the perceptions of the citizens on the right and left banks of the Nistru of the realities in the former Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (MASSR) and the possible dangers generated by the concepts and theories applied there since 1924. The statement was made during a public debate entitled “100 years under the sign of the MASSR”, which was staged by IPN News Agency.
“Why was the consolidation of Russian land a positive factor? Why was the 350 German states that united in Germany into a nation state a positive phenomenon? Why did seven states on the Apennine peninsula together form a single country, an Italian nation? And the fact that the Moldovans and Romanians are practically the same ethnicity is allegedly a negative factor used by particular propagandists, especially those from the Transnistrian region?” asked Igor Boțan.
Asked to what extent the existence of the separatist regime is based on the concepts developed in the MASSR and to what extent the illegal presence of Russian troops in the Transnistrian area confirms the continuity of internal and external goals that formed the basis of the MASSR a hundred years ago, Igor Boţan said that the arguments used by the separatist leaders in 1990 have a certain connection with what happened in the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, but these arguments were rather artificial as the real purpose that the separatist leaders invoked was that they were the last bastion of the Soviet Union, their interest was, supposedly, the preservation of the Soviet Union. “We all understand that the separatism in the Transnistrian region was absolutely illegal, and the “arguments” by which they justified the actions they invoked about the fact that the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic declared its sovereignty on June 23, 1990 are false because, according to the Constitution of the Soviet Union and according to the Constitution of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, the MASSR was a sovereign republic, enjoyed full sovereignty just like all the other Soviet republics and the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic confirmed its sovereignty, after the Russian Federation did this on June 12,” said the expert.
Igor Boțan also said that if we now return to a distance of more than a third of a century, to the so-called arguments of the separatist leaders, we will invoke the realities of the Republic of Moldova wherethe people who now come from Russia to Moldova can live without knowing the official language. “Knowing only the Russian language, you can satisfy all your vital needs in this country,” he stressed.
“In December 2020, when the Socialist group in Parliament, together with Shor’s group, adopted a new law on the functioning of languages in the Republic of Moldova, they introduced a falsehood because the 1989 law on the functioning of languages on the territory of the Moldavian SSR stipulated that the official language of the country was Moldovan based on the Latin script and the language of communication between the peoples of the Soviet Union was Russian. In 2020, they came up with the idea that the language of interethnic communication in the Republic of Moldova is Russian. That is, in the1990s the language of interethnic communication was the official language – the Moldovan - and in 2020, after a third of a century, Russian was introduced as the language of interethnic communication. All these things show how the realities in the Republic of Moldova are perceived now,” stated Igor Boțan.
The public debate entitled “100 years under the sign of the MASSR” was the 42nd installment of the series “Impact of the past on confidence- and peace-building processes”. IPN News Agency implements this project with the support of the German Foundation “Hanns Seidel”.
