20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

Timokenian and Danubian Romanians. Ethnological perspective 905the Romanians, more ancient than them, the hearth which received thenewcomers was ever different. The proofs are just waiting to be found”. 15In Turkish documents, such as the register concerning years1454-1455, there are village names from the Timok area such as: Gamzova,Vrăh, Calanic (Calenic), Negovanofce (Negovanovţi), Borilofce (Boriloveţ),Cinguruş (today a Bulgarian village), Alboten (today a meadow in the frontof the ruins of a former monastery), Tihanofce (Tianovţi), Cosova, Cutova,Rachitnice (Rachitniţa), Islanetrăne (Slanotrăn), Suhadol (today vanished),Isveti Petre (Sveti Peter, today Drujba), Topolovce (Topolovăţ, knownas Boşneacu); similar to the 1560 one: Vrăh island, Filordin (Florentin),Cutova, Coşava, Bregova, Dalaina (Deleina), Perilofce (Periloveţ), Balei,Gămzovo, Slanotrăne, Iasen, Calenic, Gromotarce (Gomotarţi), Boriloveci(Borilovăţ). 16In the Timok area, especially at the level of the AVE Association, thereare claims for obtainig the status of minority for the Romanians in Bulgaria,which is a less common situation in the areas of the Danube valley. It is truethat the Bugarian State, in its turn, does not encourage and seems indifferenttoday to the situation of Romanians. The approval of the Vidin bishop wasobtained for the unfolding of church service in Romanian for two localities,Rabova and Florentin. It is worrying that in Timkoean villages, except forRabova commune, the schools were closed due to lack of pupils.What discourages the transit to Romania is the existence of a smallnumber of custom points, as well as the difficulty of crossing aboard orthe high cost of shipment by ferry. The crossing points are at Vidin-Calafat(by ferry), Oriahovo-Bechet (by ferry), Ruse-Giurgiu (bridge), Silistra-Călăraşi (by ferry, land crossing).In schools, the subjects are taught in Bulgarian. There are currentinitiatives for taking Romanian lessons in private, through the involvementof AVE Association, especially for the young people who, thus, will beable to be granted access easily to scholarships offered by the RomanianUniversity Education, projects financed by the Department of Romaniansfrom Overseas within the Romanian Ministry of External Affairs.In the researched areas, the broadcasting of Romanian televisionand radio channels can be caught, entertainment shows being the most15Emanoil Bucuţa 1942, Introducere, to Românii din Timoc, corpus elaborated byC. Constante and A. Golopenţia. Bucharest, XVII-XVIII.16Virgil Nestorescu 1996, Românii timoceni din Bulgaria, Bucharest: EdituraFundaţiei Culturale Române, XII. These dates are taken from book Dušanka Bojanić-Lukać 1975, Buguн u вuguнcкuяm caнgжaк npeэ 15-16 вeк, Sofia, which containsdocuments of the Turkish Archives from Ankara and Istanbul.