Nation-Building and Contested Identities: Romanian & Hungarian ...

CONSTANTIN IORDACHInational Congress of Great European Powers that took place in June 1878in Berlin. Nevertheless, the Treaty of Berlin stipulated that Romania mustcede Southern Bessarabia to Russia (Art. 45), receiving instead theprovince of Northern Dobrogea (Art. 46).The decisions of the Berlin Congress opened a second phase ofresistance to Dobrogea’s annexation, by dividing Romanian politiciansbetween “pro-Dobrogeans and anti-Dobrogeans.” 17 Considering thatresistance to the European decision would be “political suicide,” the mostimportant political personalities of Romania, such as Prince Carol I,Prime Minister Ion. C. Brãtianu and Foreign Minister Mihail Kogãlniceanufavored compliance with the Berlin Treaty and the annexation ofDobrogea. 18 By contrast, other leading politicians, such as Dimitrie A.Sturdza, Nicolae Dimancea, and Petre P. Carp continued to oppose theannexation. Under their influence, on 28 June 1878, a resolution of theChamber of Deputies, voted by 46 deputies, firmly rejected the annexationof Dobrogea under any circumstances, considering it “detrimental toRomania’s interest.” 19 In their view, Dobrogea was “a fatal gift,” whoseacquisition would dismember the Latin ethnic homogeneity of the Romanianpeople, embroil Romania within Russia’s geo-political plans in theBalkans, deteriorate the diplomatic relations with Serbia and Bulgaria,and require an unreasonable financial sacrifice. Adversaries of the annexationemployed an impressive range of arguments against Dobrogea, portrayingthe population of the province as “an assemblage of most turbulentelements, gathered there from all over the world,” and characterizingthe province as “a marshy country, in which yellow fever is endemic,” andthe organization of which would prove “the ruin of our finance.” 20A substantial nationalist concern with regard to Dobrogea’s annexationwas the ethnic and religious diversity of its population. The provincewas a “micro-cosmos of all religions:” 21 together with Romanians, Bulgariansand Greeks of Orthodox Christian denomination and the RussianOld Believers, there were also numerous Muslims, Jews, Catholics andProtestants. In Romania, the existence of an overwhelming OrthodoxChristian majority, coupled with the tradition of the old treaties (capitulations)allegedly concluded between the Principalities of Moldavia andWallachia and the Ottoman Empire, which forbade the practice of Muslimreligion on Romanian territory, favored a legal association betweenRomanian national identity and Christianity. 22 This principle was legallyconsecrated by Article 7 of the 1866 Constitution of Romania, which readthat: “Only foreigners of Christian denomination can acquire naturalization.”From a legal point of view, the potential contradiction betweenRomania’s legislation and Dobrogea’s religious composition was partiallyliquidated just one year after the annexation of Dobrogea. Following126