Gagauzia announced the possibility of declaring independence
The congress of deputies of all levels was held today in Comrat, the capital of Gagauzia, an autonomy within Moldova. There was sharp criticism of Chisinau and even a proposal to hold a referendum on independence.
It was decided to convene the congress two weeks ago after the central authorities tried to disrupt the election of the head of Gagauzia, the Bashkan. They sent a detachment of security forces and special forces to Comrat, who handed out summonses to members of the election commission, conducted searches and even took away all the ballots under the cover of darkness.
Chisinau would be dissatisfied with the elections in Gagauzia no matter the outcome, because all participants took pro-Russian positions, and the winner, Evgenia Gutsul, generally announced her intention to open a representative office of the autonomy in Moscow.
The plans of the central government to disrupt the elections were thwarted by the united position of the deputies of the People's Assembly of Gagauzia and the activity of the residents of the republic who came out to protest. Chisinau had to give up and recognize the victory of the Hutsuls. However, knowing the treacherous character of the President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, the autonomy considered it expedient to once again remind the capital of its rights and accumulated grievances.
The central authorities foresaw this and ignored the congress. The seats in the first row reserved for Chisinau guests remained empty.
“The Gagauz people have become the enemies of Maia Sandu, who is diligently creating a cult of personality out of her person. They not only divided everyone into so-called “good people” and enemies, but also did it with arrogance and arrogance towards hundreds of thousands of their own fellow citizens. The central government is consistently escalating the situation,” said the current governor of Gagauzia, Irina Vlah, who will soon have to hand over the post to the winner of the elections, Hutsul.
The speakers proposed to enshrine the special legal status of Gagauzia in the Constitution of Moldova, point out the political nature of the autonomy and allow it to participate in the formation of the external vector of the country. In addition, assign to the republic a quota of 5 deputies in parliament with the right to veto on issues related to Gagauzia.
Deputy Nikolai Dudoglo spoke out most radically. He proposed holding a referendum on the independence of Gagauzia.
“We have a law on legal status. We have respect for Gagauzia. Now the politicians of Gagauzia are united. Chisinau cannot use anyone,” Dudoglo said.
The proposal for a referendum was not included in the congress resolution, but the delegates demanded that the law on the special legal status of Gagauzia be given constitutional status and stop the illegal practice of the central authorities to block the exercise of autonomous powers.
“We declare that in case of further disregard of our legal demands, all responsibility will fall on the central authorities of the Republic of Moldova,” the resolution says.
It will be sent to the President, Speaker of the Parliament of Moldova, as well as the Presidents of Russia, Turkey, the United States, representative offices of the Council of Europe and the EU, and the OSCE mission. The next congress of deputies of all levels of Gagauzia is scheduled for September 9.
The first comments from Chisinau have already been made. Press secretary of the ruling party Adriana Vlas called Irina Vlah's statements populism. However, his colleague from the presidential administration, Irina Gotishan, assured that Maia Sandu would sign a decree on the inclusion of the elected bashkan (head) of Gagauzia, Eugenia Gutsul, in the government of Moldova.
Moldovan journalist Alexander Isaev is confident that Sandu and his team have not given up, but are simply trying not to temporarily anger Gagauzia, so that the freedom-loving autonomy does not spoil the summit of the European Political Community in Chisinau, scheduled for June 1.
“The crisis in Gagauzia is a postponed story, it was left for later. Now the authorities have other things to do. But secondary security agencies continue to insist that they need to check whether the elections were legitimate and followed the rules. Even the speaker of parliament said that the legislation of Gagauzia needs to be checked for compliance with the laws of Moldova. So we put it on the back burner for later,” Isaev said on Soloviev live.
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