Moldovan President Igor Dodon is worried that the country is living in a state of alarm unparalleled in the previous 25 years, caused by the “fear of armed conflicts”. The opinion was shared in an interview for IPN on the eve of the anniversary of Moldova’s independence.
“I want to highlight a new phenomenon that arose in recent years, especially in recent months – the fear of armed conflicts. More explicitly, the fear of a new armed conflict that would involve Moldova. More and more people are repeating the post-WW2 phrase ‘if only there was no war’, because the people are feeling on an instinctual level the fear that there’s a risk of countries clashing, that might affect us directly”, said the president. He stressed that we haven’t had such a state of alarm in the last 25 years and that the government must do its utmost to avoid Moldova’s involvement in any kind of geopolitical conflicts between other countries, because the risk is more real than people understand.
He thinks the post-Independence period is “special in the history of the Moldovan people”, but is sad that there have been virtually no improvements felt by the people and labeled the massive emigration rate “a true national tragedy”.
“This period is special in the history of the Moldovan people because we have shown ourselves able to ensure the continuity of our statehood, which started in the 14th century. We have proven that we are able to maintain our Moldovan identity, to build a Moldovan state, despite all the drama and challenges we’ve had and still have to deal with. However, we also have to admit that we can’t boast any remarkable results in the economic and social field. Most of the indexes are at least 30% below their value during the last years of the Soviet period. One third of our citizens left their motherland, which is a true national tragedy”, argued Dodon.
According to him, the current state of affairs was caused by the politicians’ and society’s lack of wisdom and preparation in the first years of Independence.
“Even though we obtained Independence, we lacked the wisdom or preparation to make the most of it. We were quick to destroy and get rid of many things left from the Soviet period. The first governments though they could build everything from scratch, disregarding Soviet Moldova’s rich industrial and agricultural heritage. But they were terribly wrong. Since the 90s, we have fallen into a kind of transition, nobody knows towards what, and our people are constantly afflicted by social and economic problems. I don’t even have to list all these issues accumulated over the years”, said the head of the state.
“For me personally, this period coincides with my student years, with forming a family, raising kids, growing up politically. As most of my peers, numerous emotions, memories, regrets, but also gratitude link me to this period of Moldovan history”, President Dodon concluded his interview for IPN.
Editor’s note: The IPN interview with President Igor Dodon, titled “My most important mission is to discourage any attempt to provoke a new armed conflict on the Nistru”, will be fully published on Tuesday, August 22, 2017.
