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Moldovan Identity and the Politics of Pan- Romanianism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Charles King
Charles King*
Affiliation:
New College, Oxford University
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Extract

Not since the early eighteenth century, when the Moldovan prince Dimitrie Cantemir was the toast of salon society from Berlin to St. Petersburg, has the existence of a Moldovan state been as widely recognized by the international community.1 Moldova's exit from the Soviet Union on 27 August 1991 and its entry into the United Nations the following year, though, raised the difficult question of the republic's future orientation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 53 , Issue 2 , Summer 1994 , pp. 345 - 368
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1994

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References

1. There is a widespread misconception that “Moldavia” at some stage changed its name to “Moldova.” In fact, even though the republic has generally been better known in the west as “Moldavia” (an anglicized version of the Russian name), it has always been known as “Moldova” or “Moldova Sovietică” (Soviet Moldova) by Romanian-speakers. In this article, I use the rather unwieldy term “Moldovan/Romanian” when referring to the official language and titular nationality of Moldova. The literary languages of Chişinău (Kishinev) and Bucharest are easily mutually intelligible but, as I argue below, what the Moldovans call themselves and their language is a political— not a linguistic—question.

2. Lina Dorosh, “Vviazalsia v skhvatku,” Grazhdanskii mir (8 August 1993): 2.

3. “Deklaratsiia gruppy narodnykh deputatov Respubliki Moldova,” Nezavisimaia Moldova (14 August 1993): 1.

4. While defining phrases containing the words “nation” or “identity” is always problematic, I take “national identity” here to signify the complex array of collective proper names, languages, legends, histories and other features accepted as fundamental to the collective self-definition of a given human population within a bounded territory, and “identity politics” to mean the struggles between cultural and political elites over the authenticity of rival versions of national identity (see Bourdieu, Pierre, Language and Symbolic Power, trans. Gino, Raymond and Matthew, Adamson [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991]Google Scholar).

5. Cantemir, Dimitrie, Descrierea Moldovei (Chişinău: Hyperion, 1992, 12–13 Google Scholar.

6. The term “Bessarabia” was in fact a misnomer. The Basarab dynasty, from which it derives, had ruled portions of Wallachia, not Moldova, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

7. Several classic Romanian-language studies of the period up to 1918 have recently been republished. See Boldur, Alexandru, Istoria Basarabiei (Bucharest: Victor Frunză, 1992 Google Scholar; Nistor, Ion, Istoria Basarabiei (Bucharest: Humanitas, 1991 Google Scholar; Ciobanu, Stefan, Cultura ŕomânească în Basarabia sub stăpinirea rusă (Chişinău: Editura Enciclopedică “Gheorghe Asachi”, 1992)Google Scholar; idem, Unirea Basarabiei (Chişinău: Universitas, 1993).

8. See Stoian, Stelian, “Viala politică din Basarabia în perioada de autonomic provizorie,” Revistă de istorie a Moldovei 2 (1992): 49–55.Google Scholar

9. Manuila, Sabin, Studiu etnografic asupra populaţiei României (Bucharest: Editura Institutului Central de Statistică , 1940), 54, 56 Google Scholar.

10. de Martonne, Em., What I Have Seen in Bessarabia (Paris: Imprimerie des Arts et des Sports, 1919), 10 Google Scholar; Upson Clark, Charles, Bessarabia: Russia and Roumania on the Black Sea (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1927), 82 Google Scholar; Baerlein, Henry, Bessarabia and Beyond (London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1935), 171–72Google Scholar.

11. Clark, Bessarabia (1927), 287–90. The Romanian principalities adopted the Latin script in the mid-nineteenth century but the Cyrillic alphabet was retained (and even preferred to the Latin) by Moldovans in Russian-held Bessarabia (see Livezeanu, Irina, “Moldavia, 1917–1990: Nationalism and Internationalism Then and Now,” Armenian Review 43, no. 2–3 [1990]: 153–93Google Scholar).

12. Vsesoiuznyi perepys liudnosti 1926 roku (Moscow: Vydannia TsSU Soiuzu RSR, 1929), 11: 30.

13. On Moldovan demographic change and cultural policy during this period, see Livezeanu, Irina, “Urbanization in a Low Key and Linguistic Change in Soviet Moldavia, Part 1,” Soviet Studies 33, no. 3 (1981): 327–51Google Scholar; idem, “Urbanization in a Low Key and Linguistic Change in Soviet Moldavia, Part 2,” Soviet Studies 33, no. 4 (1981): 573–92; E. King, Charles, “Soviet Policy in the Annexed East European Borderlands: The Case of Moldova” in Sven Holtsmark, Odd Arne Westad and Iver Neumann, eds., The Soviet Union in Eastern Europe, 1945–1989 (London: Macmillan, 1994, 63–93 Google Scholar; van Meurs, Wim, The Bessarabian Question in Communist Historiography (Boulder: East European Monographs, forthcoming)Google Scholar.

14. Actele legislative ale R.S.S. Moldoveneşti cu privire la decretarea limbii moldoveneşti limbă de stat şi revenirea ei la grafia latină (Chişinău: Cartea Moldovenească, 1990), 3, 5.

15. “Declaraţia de independenţă a Republicii Moldova,” România Liberă (28 August 1991): 8.

16. On the national movement, see Eyal, Jonathan, “Moldavians” in Graham Smith, ed., The Nationalities Question in the Soviet Union (New York: Longman, 1990, 123–41Google Scholar; Crowther, William, “The Politics of Ethno-National Mobilization: Nationalism and Reform in Soviet Moldavia,” Russian Review 50 (April 1991): 183–202.Google Scholar

17. “Documentul final al Marii Adunării Naţionale,” Literatură, şi Artă (31 August 1989): 2.

18. Iurie Roşca, chair of the Executive Committee of the Christian Democratic Popular Front of Moldova, interview with the author (Chijinau, 15 April 1993).

19. Programul Frontului Popular Creştin Democrat (Chişinău, 1992), 8.

20. Vladimir Socor, “Why Moldova Does Not Seek Reunification with Romania,” RFE/RL Research Report (31 January 1992): 30. While the Front was able to attract hundreds of thousands of Moldovans to its “Grand National Assembly” in August 1989, only a few hundred supporters turned out for similar rallies in summer 1993.

21. The Front's president, Mircea Drue, even stood in the Romanian presidential elections of September 1992, running on the single-plank platform of Moldovan-Romanian union. He received only 2.75% of the vote, coming last in the field of six candidates.

22. “Statutul Congresului Intelectualităţii,” Literatură şi Artă (8 April 1993): 2.

23. Gamova, Svetlana, “Parlament Moldovy na grani samorospuska,” Izvestiia (29 January 1993): 2.Google Scholar

24. 32% of Agrarian deputies in the current parliament are heads of collective farms or agro-industrial enterprises. Another 28% are former ministers (including Prime Minister Andrei Sangheli), high-ranking members of the former parliament or heads of local government. The parliamentary chair (Petru Lucinschi) and both deputy chairs (Dumitru Mofpan and Nicolae Andronic) are also Agrarian Democrats.

25. All of Moldova's gas and crude oil supply, 98% of its petrol, 68% of its diesel and 36% of its coal come from Russia alone. In 1992, the former Soviet republics took 75% of its exports and provided 78% of its imports (“Ekonomicheskii soiuz: ‘pro’ i ‘contra',” Nezavisimaia Moldova [7 August 1993]: 2; V. Rotar, “Parlament sdelal vse, chto mog?” Nezavisimaia Moldova [24 August 1993]: 1).

26. “Sovmestnaia deklaratsiia,” Nezavisimaia Moldova (5 August 1993): 1.

27. “Parlament razoshelsia s SNG,” Nezavisimaia Moldova (7 August 1993): 1.

28. See the parties’ programs in Moldova Suverană (5 February 1994): 1–4, and Respublika 4 (1994): 4–5.

29. The organization has no connections with the Romanian group of the same name and has even been officially denounced by the latter (“Spor ni o chem,” Nezavisimaia Moldova [30 October 1993]: 1).

30. “Sântem [sic] poate la cea mai hotăratoâre răscruce din istoria neamului nostru,” Păm înt şi Oameni (12 February 1994): 1, 3; Elena Shatokhina, “Drutse i ‘Gazprom'— za Snegura,” Moskovskie Novosti (13–20 February 1994): A10.

31. Mircea Snegur, “Republica Moldova este ţara tuturor cetăţenilor săi,” Pămînt şi Oameni (12 February 1994): 3.

32. “O inventie a regimului comunist,” Moldova Suverană (12 February 1994): 3; “Să respectăm adevărul ştiinţific şi istoric,” Plus-Minus (February 1994): 8.

33. “Pericolul aservirii politice a veşnicelor adevăruri,” Plus-Minus (February 1994): 8.

34. “Okonchatel'nye itogi Parlamentskikh vyborov,” Moldova Suverană Daidzhest (18 March 1994): 1.

35. The post-Soviet electoral law stipulated that the entire Moldovan republic be considered a single, multi-member electoral district with deputies elected in a closed party-list system. Therefore, since candidates are not tied to any definite regional constituency, the government argues that the separatist regions are represented in the new parliament even though few people from those areas actually participated in the voting.

36. Republica Moldova (Chişinău: Universitas, 1992), 16.

37. William Crowther, “The Politics of Ethnic Confrontation in Moldova” (paper presented at Woodrow Wilson Center conference on “High Conflict/Low Conflict: Six Case Studies”, Washington, DC, 28–30 June 1993).

38. La sfat cu poporul was neither a referendum nor a public opinion survey. The question as formulated made it difficult to give a clear affirmative/negative answer and, since it contained several sub-questions within a single sentence, it was impossible to determine which portion of the general question the respondent might be answering (“Apropo,” Dnevnoi ekspress [22 February 1994]: 2).

39. “Poporul şi-a spus cuvîntul,” Moldova Suverană (12 March 1994): 1.

40. According to the 1989 census, Moldova's total population was 64.5% Moldovan/ Romanian, 13.8% Ukrainian, 13.0% Russian, 3.5% Gagauz and 2.0% Bulgarian, with the remainder accounted for by Jews, Gypsies and other nationalities. In the five raions east of the Dnestr River (Transnistria) Moldovans/Romanians account for a plurality of the population (40%), with the remainder composed largely of Ukrainians, Russians and Bulgarians. In the five southernmost raions (Gagauzia), ethnic Gagauzi form the largest group (47% of the population), followed by Moldovans/Romanians and Bulgarians.

41. Economia Naţională a Republicii Moldova, 1991 (Chijinau: Departamentul de Stat pentru Statistică, 1992), 78–79.

42. Actele legislative (1990), 6.

43. Vitalii Portnikov, “'Moldavskii Gorbachev’ okazyvaetsia ‘moldavskim Brazauskasom, “’ Nezavisimaia gazeta (6 February 1993): 1.

44. See the Addenda to “Report of the CSCE Human Dimension Mission to the Republic of Moldova (January 30-February 4, 1993)” (CSCE, 1993), 31–37.

45. The “Suvorov” is a Russian ruble of 1961–1992 issue with a special stamp bearing the image of the famous field-marshal. New Russian rubles are also in circulation but the Moldovan leu (introduced in November 1993) is not considered legal tender (“'Valuta’ tiraspoleană,” Moldova Suverană [20 January 1994]: 1; “Nemilost’ k moldavskomu leiu,” Nezavisimaia Moldova [24 November 1993]: 2).

46. RFE/RL Daily Report (8 October 1993).

47. Tat'iana Tsyba, “Esli Vaniu shlepnut, eto nevosstanovimo,” Komsomol'skaia pravda (27 April 1993). Lebed’ is strongly supportive of the 14th army's presence in Transnistria but he has shown no affinity for the Transnistrian leadership itself. See Charles King, “Moldova and the New Bessarabian Questions,” The World Today (July 1993), 135–39.

48. Branimir Radev, Bulgarian Charge d'Affaires in Moldova, interview with the author (Chişinău, 26 April 1993); RFE/RL Daily Report (9 September 1993).

49. “Doklad No. 13 missii SBSE v Moldove,” Makler-Telegraf (3 February 1994): 1; 3–5.

50. For detailed treatments of the Transnistrian crisis and the 14th army's role, see Michael Orr, “14th Army and the Crisis in Moldova, “/arae'.s Intelligence Review (June 1992): 247–50; Pål Kolstϕ and Andrei Edemsky with Natalya Kalashnikova, “The Dniester Conflict: Between Irredentism and Separatism,” Europe-Asia Studies 45, no. 6 (1993): 973–1000.

51. Alexandru Burlaca, “Găgăuzia §i Transnistria au propus crearea unei ‘Confederaţii moldoveneşti',” Republica (6 April 1993): 6.

52. Aleksandr Tago, “Komrat—za federativnoe ustroistvo Moldovy,” Nezavisimaia gazeta (17 February 1993): 3; “Komrat: proekt zakona o funktsionirovanii iazykov,” Nezavisimaia Moldova (5 August 1993): 1.

53. “O biudzhete, vyborakh i drugom,” Komratskie vesti (19 February 1994): 1; G. Golia, “Veriu v razum novykh politikov,” Kishinevskie novosti (19 March 1994): 1–2. The Gagauzi held their own “sociological survey” parallel to La sfat cu poporul. More than 85% of participants supported a separate Gagauz “national territory” within an independent Moldova (Val Butnaru, “Agrarienii vor avea de plătit nişte poliţe preelectorale,” Observatorul de Chişinău [22 March 1994]: 3).

54. Gavril Gaidargi, Adjunct Director of Moldovan Institute of National Minorities, interview with the author (Chişinău, 8 April 1993).

55. Turkey has shown a particular interest in the Gagauz problem as part of its effort to establish ties with the Turkic populations of the former USSR. Two books on the Gagauzi, a rarity outside the former USSR, were recently published in Ankara: Harun, Güngor and Mustafa, Argunşah, Gagauz Türkleri: tarih, dil, folklor ve halk edebiyati (Ankara: Kültür Bakanligi, 1991 Google Scholar; idem, Gagauzlar: dünden bügune (Ankara: Elektronik Iletişim Ajansi, 1993 ).

56. Such views were particularly prevalent in the Romanian press during the Transnistrian war of 1992. See for example Tudor Artenie, “Sînt mai buni şi mai chinuiţi ca noi,” România Liberă (4–5 April 1992): 1; Bârsan, Victor, Masacrul inocenţilor: războiul din Moldova, 1 martie-29 iulie 1992 (Bucharest: Editura Fundaţiei Culturale Romane, 1993 Google Scholar.

57. See Michael Shafir, “Romanian Prime Minister Announces Cabinet Changes,” RFE/RL Research Report (24 September 1993): 17–22; Ionescu, Dan and Shafir, Michael, “Romanian Government Reorganized,” RFE/RL Research Report (1 April 1994): 14–19.Google Scholar

58. “Deklaratsiia prezidenta Rumynii,” Nezavisimaia Moldova (14 August 1993): 1.

59. “Vystuplenie Predsedatelia Parlamenta Respubliki Moldova,” Nezavisimaia Moldova (14 July 1993): 1–2.

60. “Vystuplenie ministra inostrannykh del Respubliki Moldova,” Nezavisimaia Moldova (13 October 1993): 1; 3. Ţîu has since been named ambassador to Washington.

61. I thank Jonathan Eyal for drawing this fact to my attention.

62. “Declarajii de o gravitate extremă,” Moldova Suverană (16 February 1994): 3.

63. “Contrar adevarului istoric,” Moldova Suverană (16 February 1994): 3.

64. Associated Press (Bucharest) (7 March 1994); RFE/RL Daily Report (4, 8 and 17 March 1994).

65. Snegur, “Republica Moldova” (1994): 3.

66. Ion Ciocanu, “Cine nu ştie ceea ce ştie toată lumea?” Literatură şi Artă (15 April 1993): 3.

67. This view is most forcefully stated in Iuncu, R., ed., K voprosu o gagauzskoi avtonomii (Chişinău: Cartea Moldovenească, 1990 Google Scholar.

68. For an overview of these groups, see Valeriu Opincă and Igor Gorea, “Stanovlenie mnogopartiinosti v Respublike Moldova,” Grazhdanskii mir (23 April 1993):