Moldova election: Gagauzia at a crossroads between East and West

DW (English)

The largely pro-Russian Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia is situated in southern Moldova. With the parliamentary election on September 28 fast approaching, DW asked some locals how they see their future.

Transcript

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.

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