Yevgenia Gutsul travelled to Istanbul and during the visit announced her intention to open a representative office of Gagauzia in Ankara and made statements that go beyond the duties of the head of an autonomous unit. Details about the visit were provided by the press in Turkey and in Comrat, while the central authorities haven’t yet commented on this visit, IPN reports.

The Bashkan of Gagauzia’s trip to Turkey turned out to be a surprise also for the public in Comrat. Of the local sources, only one source enumerated the visit among the weekend events, with the surprise effect being emphasized.

“We didn’t notice the visit having been announced beforehand; anyway we haven’t seen such statements on the official website of the executive committee even today, when the chief of the chief already returned. About the “working meetings” in Turkey, we learned not from the website of the executive committee, but from a message posted on her social networking sites,” laf.md reported.

As regards the content of the trip, two pictures of Missis Gutsul’s meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan were posted on the website of Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. No reference is made to the held discussions.

The Turkish television TRT also didn’t present the speech of the Turkish official. Instead, messages of guests were posted. Invoking tens of meetings with high-ranking officials, it doesn’t yet provide names and details about the stance adopted by the interlocutors of the Bashkan.

According to TRT, Gutsul stated that after Erdoğan’s visit to Moldova of 2018, “a number of projects started to be implemented in the region”.

Underlining the fact that a number of natives of Gagauzia live in Turkey, Gutsul noted that they intend to open a representative office of Gagauzia in Ankara.

The Bashkan said that Turkey supported the people of Gagauzia during the COVID-19 pandemic, underlining that the number of infected persons wasn’t high and this was due to the assistance offered by the Turkish side.

Gutsul also said that the Republic of Moldova should have a neutral position on the Russo-Ukrainian war, pleading in favor of the way in which the Turkish side acts. “Turkey helps all those who need assistance,” stated the Bashkan, being quoted by trt.net.tr.

According to the local press, Yevgenia Gutsul named the trip to Istanbul “an official visit” even if there is no sign that she had a message from the official Chisinau for Ankara. On the contrary, the leader from Comrat is not accepted as a member of the Cabinet and she was also excluded from the composition of the state security and European integration bodies. Earlier, she announced the intention to open a representative office of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia in the Russian Federation even if neither her duties nor the national legislation allow for something like this.