00:00This is the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagausia in southern Moldova.
00:05It was granted autonomous legal status by the central government in Kisinau in 1994,
00:10three years after Moldova declared independence from the Soviet Union.
00:14Cedirlunga is one of the few towns in Gagausia.
00:17Due to an intense process of Russification during the Soviet era, fewer and fewer people
00:22here speak Gagaus, the Turkic language of the Gagaus people.
00:27Kirill Yelesov is 34 years old.
00:29Unable to speak Gagaus as a child, he decided as a teenager to learn the language.
00:35Years later, he compiled an online Gagaus dictionary, the only one of its kind on the Internet.
00:41Our national identification was very carefully adopted in the Soviet Union.
00:48Instead of Gagausian, we were given Russian.
00:51And if you are not for Russians, then you are not Gagausian.
00:56That is, patriotism and the feeling of national pride and dignity was based on the Russian language,
01:02in the culture, in the Soviet Union, even in the Soviet Union.
01:08And the Soviet Union broke out, and the Soviet Gagausians remained.
01:12And for 30 years, we are like the Sonsara's wheel, we cannot be able to get out of it.
01:16Around 150,000 people live in Gagausia.
01:20Politically, most people here are pro-Russian.
01:23In a 2014 referendum held only in Gagausia,
01:27more than 98% of voters rejected EU integration
01:30in favour of Moldova entering into a customs union with Moscow.
01:33The Central Electoral Commission in Chisinau declared the referendum illegal
01:38and the customs union never came about.
01:41In a referendum held right across Moldova in 2024,
01:44nearly 95% of voters in Gagausia once again voted no to joining the European Union.
01:51Nevertheless, the referendum passed,
01:53as over 50% of the overall Moldovan electorate voted yes.
01:58Kirill believes that there are two reasons for the no vote in Gagausia.
02:02Firstly, most people in the region watch Russian-language television broadcast from Moscow.
02:07And secondly, they don't speak Romanian, Moldova's official language.
02:14The only one who's here is absolutely pro-Russian people.
02:16They can't be other than any other.
02:18There are no no big Gagausian people in Gagausian people,
02:20which, of course, we are not going to fight.
02:21But without the rest of the language,
02:23how can we do it in Gagausian people in Gagausian people
02:25or any other, let's say,
02:28informative and effective sources of information?
02:30I think it is impossible.
02:32So, all people,
02:34let's say,
02:34that the age of the age of the,
02:36for which television is still an authority and popular,
02:40They are completely attached to Russian propaganda.
02:44Natalia Cebutari is a journalist and writer from Chadur Lunga.
02:49She has spent years documenting Gagau's traditions.
02:52Natalia believes that Gagau's politicians are the main reason for the strong pro-Russian
02:57sentiment in the region.
02:59Instead of working toward developing the region, she says they use disinformation to frighten
03:04people.
03:05Politicians only say that we can't rely on the way that Moldova would be united
03:13with Romania, so that they would not come from Gagau's and do not make slaves.
03:17And this fear was always the only argument, the only argument and always working, in general.
03:28The Gagau's land amusement park was opened in the village of Congas, about 20 kilometres
03:33west of Chadur Lunga, in 2024.
03:37The park was bankrolled by the fugitive Moldovan oligarch and politician Ilan Shor, who moved
03:43to Russia to evade Moldovan justice.
03:46Ivan Besarab, a resident of Congas, believes that Gagau's has always had good relations
03:52with Russia, and that the EU has a hidden agenda in the region.
03:55After that, when the EU has given us some dividends to some projects, we have
04:03many of them to take care of, many of them to take care of.
04:08After that, you have done so, you have done so, you have done so.
04:10The EU doesn't do so, so that it is for us to be good, but for us to be
04:14here.
04:15I understand why the EU is doing it, but why do they want us to make their laws, this
04:22is the question.
04:23So, if you want to help us, the EU will not help us.
04:30Moldova goes to the polls to elect a new parliament on September 28th.
04:35In recent years, the EU has poured millions of euros into the region in the form of grants
04:40for small businesses, investment in tourism and agriculture, and funding for the construction
04:45of water and sewage systems.
04:47Nevertheless, many here rarely associate these investments with the EU, and remain
04:52loyal to Russia.
04:53Many, but not all.
04:55We always get the same result, unfortunately, it doesn't change in the lower side.
05:02So, while the Moldovan central government in Chisinau is looking west toward the European
05:30Union, Gagosia's heart still beats in the East.
05:34For some here, especially the younger generation, Europe represents the promise of a better,
05:39brighter future.
05:40The question is whether this will be enough to overcome the dominant pro-Russian sentiment
05:45in Gagosia when voters go to the polls on September 28th.
Comments