Members and supporters of a number of unionist organizations on May 16 will commemorate 203 years of Bessarabia’s annexation to the Russian Empire in the Great National Assembly Square of Chisinau on May 16. They will seek union with Romania as they consider that this is a solution to the social problems faced by Moldova.
Claudia Iovita, member of the platform “Actiunea 2012”, has told IPN that what happened in time, from Bessarabia’s annexation until now, was to the detriment of the people living on this land. “We want to remove this injustice and obtain justice for civil society too and over all the illegalities committed now in Moldova. We want a union that is absolutely normal and to which we aspire,” she stated.
Going on a march, the Unionists will set off from the central square of Chisinau and will go past a number of embassies. “It is evident that we will pass by the embassy of Russia given that it was the author of that annexation. We want to remind that 200 years ago it didn’t have the legal right to annex this territory and that we now suffer the consequences of that act,” said Claudia Iovita, noting they will also go to the embassies of Germany and the U.S. to transmit solidarity messages to them.
Anatol Ursu, a member of the Civic Platform “Moldova’s Youth”, said that May 16 is a day of mourning when we remember with pain the year 1812 and the Russia-Turkish peace agreement as a result of which Bessarabia was torn away and annexed to the Russian Empire. The march is also staged in connection with the expulsion of the Romanian citizen George Simion, who heads the platform “Actiunea 2012”, on May 13. He was declared undesirable in Moldova for a period of five years. The members of the platform “Acţiunea 2012” and of other unionist organizations consider the expulsion was a political order.
The demonstration in the Great National Assembly Square starts at 2pm.
On May 16, 1812, the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire signed a Peace Treaty in Bucharest. As a result, a part of the historical Moldova, which was called later Bessarabia, was annexed to the Tsarist Empire. In 1940, after the signing of the Ribbentrop – Molotov Pact, Bessarabia’s territory was also divided, being incorporated into different republics of the former USSR.
