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Wöber – The Autonomy of Gagauzia
bank of the river. 5 While this conflict has not been resolved and continues to
dominate the political discussion in the country, the outcome of the Gagauz’
struggle for self-determination was largely based on a peaceful process, as
will be described in the subsequent sections. 6
There exist different opinions about the implementation of the relatively
unknown autonomy of Gagauzia and its success. This article aims to
contribute to the discussion on how to solve conflicts of an ethnic nature and
how to accommodate minorities through territorial autonomies by shedding
further light on this part of the world and its current state of affairs, in
particular after a new coalition came into power in 2009 in the Republic of
Moldova. This change of government ended the reign of the Party of
Communists of the Republic of Moldova (Party of Communists), and official
Chisinau turned its foreign policy vector towards the West, with the European
Union (EU) starting to play a more active role in the country. At the same
time, the questions of national identity, how to organize the state and which
geopolitical directions to take are on the daily agenda of this relatively
young, democratizing state. The influence of the Russian Federation is still
strong and one part of society – especially Russian-speakers – is very nostalgic
about Soviet times and institutions.
The following research questions are the focus of this article:
• Which aspects of the Gagauz Yeri autonomy work well or raise
concerns?
• What is the current status of accommodation of Gagauz’ interests in
Moldova and which factors influence this minority–state relationship?
• How does Gagauz Yeri contribute to Moldova’s state-building process?
5 Jos Havermans, “Moldova: Peace Organizations Search for Lasting Settlement”, in Paul van
Tongeren, Hans van de Veen and Juliette Verhoeven (eds.), Searching for Peace in Europe and
Eurasia (Lynne Rienner Publishers, London, 2002), 280–282.
6 This article is based on the author’s master’s thesis “Making or Breaking the Republic of Moldova?
The Case of the Autonomy of Gagauzia”, prepared as part of the Interdisciplinary Balkan Studies
postgraduate master’s degree course of the University of Vienna (2011), and is complemented by
follow-up research (2012). Interviews were conducted with more than 20 persons, including three
(out of four) MPs from Gagauzia in the parliament, the Bashkan, the Speaker of the People’s
Assembly, leaders of the two main political movements of the autonomy, experts in Chisinau –
among them also persons who were already active in politics in the 1980s/1990s – as well as
representatives of think tanks working on/with/in Gagauzia, civil society actors from the autonomy
and experts of Gagauz history and culture. Other background talks involved diplomats and
representatives of the EU and the OSCE. For a list of interview partners see the bibliography.
www.eurac.edu/edap 6 edap@eurac.edu