Until 1918, the population of Bessarabia was kept in illiteracy and total ignorance and the myth of the liberation of the Bessarabians from the Turkish yoke was promoted, historian Ion Negrei stated in a public debate hosted by IPN News Agency. The historian noted that the theory according to which Bessarabia was freed from the Turkish yoke and brought under the protection of the Russian Orthodox Church was a false one since the Ottomans never tried to Islamize the church in the Principality of Moldavia.
The historian said that Russian imperial propaganda presented the annexation of the territories as liberation from Ottoman domination and bringing under the enlightened protection of the Russian Orthodox Church. However, this argument did not correspond to the historical reality: the church in Bessarabia was not subjected to Islamization during the period of Ottoman domination. Bessarabia kept its religious autonomy and the local church remained independent from Ottoman influences.
"There were no policies of national interest in Bessarabia. Education in Russian was introduced and its effect was that 10% literacy rate that we reached around 1917-1918. The population was kept in illiteracy, in total ignorance. The myth of liberation explained by the Russians was as follows: the population was freed from the Turkish yoke and brought under the enlightened protection of the Russian Orthodox Church, which was Christian. The population was told that it had been liberated by the Muslims and had been brought into the Russian Orthodox Church. But here is a moment - the church in Moldova in the medieval period had never been subjected to Islamization. The Church was free. We had Metropolitan Bishops Varlaam, Dosoftei. They were free in the fulfilment of their duties. The Ottomans did not interfere in church affairs. We had not been Islamized. However, on the religious side, the myth of liberation produced effects," said Ion Negrei.
The historian explained that in 1912, the Centenary of the annexation of Bessarabia to the Russian Empire was celebrated in Bessarabia. This celebration was organized by the church with the aim of emphasizing the ties between Bessarabia and Russia and promoting the policy of Russification in the region.
"In 1912, the Centenary of the Union with Russia was celebrated very pompously here, in Bessarabia. In 1912, celebrations were held, but they were organized only at the church level. An attempt was then made to erect a monument to Tsar Alexander I, under which Bessarabia was annexed. But they failed to create a massive event for them. The church organized Te Deum ervices and that's it. In 1912, the majority of the Romanian intellectuals in Bessarabia stood aside and just watched the events. The press only noted that the Russians celebrated the annexation of Bessarabia," said historian Ion Negrei.
Ion Negrei explained that in 1940, Bessarabia was occupied by the Soviet Union as a result of ultimatums addressed to Romania in the context of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, signed in 1939 between Nazi Germany and the Stalinist USSR. That time they wanted to liberate the Bessarabian population, not the territory.
"But in 1940, the myth of the liberation of the Moldovan people, not of Bessarabia, appears. A distinction had to be made between the Romanian population, which was liberated and the Russians called it occupied Moldavians within Romania. At that time, the emphasis was already placed on the ethnic aspect and the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was formed with Moldovan people. The accents changed," explained the historian.
The public debate entitled "Contemporary danger of mythologization of 1812" is part of the series of debates "Impact of the past on trust and peace building processes". IPN News Agency carries out this project with support from the German Hanns Seidel Foundation.
