Historians call 650th anniversary of Moldova's statehood 'a political invention'

A group of historians is condemning the intent of the Moldovan authorities to celebrate the 650th anniversary of Moldova's statehood this year as an 'absurd', 'political invention'. The topic was debated on Wednesday at a roundtable meeting themed “650 years since the foundation of the Land of Moldova: Truth and Falsity”, Info-Prim Neo reports. The president of the Moldovan Association of Historians, Sergiu Musteata, said that “the government of the Republic of Moldova makes a big mistake when it speculates on these uncertain dates and tries to make a connection between the statehood of the Land of Moldova as a medieval state and the statehood of the Republic of Moldova”. “Digging for historical roots in the medieval statehood is not a reasonable thing to do. The Republic of Moldova as a modern state has its roots in 1991. It's nonsense to say that it has a history of 650 years of statehood”, said Musteata. Asked whether the Association would make an official address to the authorities to challenge their intention, Musteata replied: “I don't think there's anyone who would listen. Everyone today is engaged in the parliamentary race and it would be useless to knock at the doors which are closed for us”. According to Dr. Pavel Parasca, “Moldova existed as a statal entity before 1359. What actually happened 650 years ago was that the Principality of Moldova gained independence, and not statehood. Celebrating the 650th anniversary of the foundation of the Moldovan state, as they insist, would be historical falsehood”, he said. Parasca believes that “the festivities planned for these purpose have a strong political overtone – education of a primitive Moldovenism”. “We must shed light on the historical truths and not let ourselves influenced by authoritative commands and give way to an unhealthy intention of subduing the science of history and the ethical identity of the Moldovans in order to transform them to 'pure' Moldovans, as if they have nothing in common with Romania”, he said. Following a series of wars between the Ottoman and the Russian empires, and later Romania and Soviet Union, what was once the Land of Moldova (also known as Moldavia) got split into three main parts: one is nowadays incorporated into Romania, the other one into Ukraine, and the third is forming the Republic of Moldova. The latest historical event that broke Bessarabia -- the current territory of the Republic of Moldova -- from the historical region of Moldavia occurred in 1940, when the Soviet Union occupied it, under the pretext of freeing Bessarabia from the 'bourgeois' Romania. It happened under the controversial political rearrangements agreed with Nazi Germany, known as the secret protocol of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.