 | McLae´s guide to Moldova |  |
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Moldova Internet country code: .md International telephone prefix: +373  Moldova is a land locked country in Eastern Europe that is surrounded by Romania to the southwest, across the Prut river, and Ukraine to the northeast. Moldova is a small country of 4.5 million people located between Romania and Ukraine. The capital of Moldova is Chisinau. The local language is Romanian, based on the Latin alphabet, but Russian is widely used. Moldova is a multiethnic republic that has suffered from violent ethnic conflict. In 1994, this conflict led to the creation of the self-proclaimed Transdniestr Republic in eastern Moldova, which has its own government and currency. Economic links have been re-established between these two parts of Moldova despite failure in political negotiations. The major religion in Moldova is Orthodox Christian. Moldova's population is occupied mainly in food production and processing. Once known as "the garden" of the Soviet Union, Moldova has now lost most of its traditional Russian markets for agricultural products and is exploring new international markets. Languages: Moldovan (official, virtually the same as the Romanian language), Russian (unofficial), Gagauz (a Turkish dialect) Moldovans speak Moldovan (outside of the semi-autonomous region of Gagausia and the breakaway region of Transnistria), which is for all practical purposes the same as Romanian. Most people in the cities also speak Russian, although be a little careful of this - learn enough Moldovan to ask whether it is ok to speak Russian - there are still hard feelings about the Soviet Union in some places. Eating and Drinking: Moldova has a long local wines tradition. Especially the reds are popular throughout the country. Most Moldovan villagers grow their own grapes and press their own wine, and many agree the standard rural household will press 3-4,000 Litres a year! Safety: The break-away region Transnistria has proclaimed itself a republic but lacks diplomatic recognition. Consequently, travellers lack consular support in case of emergency. Stay away until further notice. If you do visit Transnistria, as a foreign citizen you should register with the Militia upon arrival. It can become difficult trying to leave if you have not done this. The heavy use of agricultural chemicals, including banned pesticides such as DDT, has contaminated soil and groundwater. If you are concerned, water for drinking, cooking and oral hygiene should be taken from a known safe source, as ordinary water treatment, including boiling, does not remove such chemical contamination. History: Moldova's territory was inhabited in ancient times by Dacians. Due to its strategic location on a route between Asia and Europe, Moldova has suffered from several invasions, including those of the Kievan Rus' and the Mongols. During the Middle Ages the territory of Republic of Moldova (including most of present-day Moldova but also including districts to the north and south, known as Northern Bukovina and Budjak) formed the eastern part of the principality of Moldavia (which, like the present-day republic, was known in Romanian as "Moldova"). The principality became tributary to the Ottoman Empire during 16th century. According to the Treaty of Bucharest in 1812, the territory passed to Russia together with Budjak (Southern Bessarabia). At first, the Russians used the name "Guberniya of Moldova and Bessarabia", but later called it simply Bessarabia. The western part of Moldavia remained an autonomous principality and united with Walachia to form the Old Kingdom of Romania in 1859. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Bessarabia proclaimed independence from Russia in 1918, and united with the Kingdom of Romania the same year. The Soviet Union invaded Bessarabia in June 1940 in an agreement with Germany expressed in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and though forced out again in 1941 by the advance of Axis forces, Soviet troops re-occupied and annexed the area in August 1944. Soviet rule brought a harsh de-nationalization policy. The southern and northern parts (which had some Slavic and Turkic minorities) were transferred to Ukraine. At the same time, Transnistria (where, at that time, ethnic Romanians outnumbered Slavs) was joined to the remainder to form the "Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic", identical in territory to present-day Moldova. Under Stalin, ethnic Russians were brought into the new country, especially into urbanized areas, while large numbers of ethnic Romanians were deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan. The overall result was the destruction of Romanian elites and middle-classes, and their replacement with Soviet (mostly Slavic) elements. After the Soviet Union occupied the region of Bessarabia during World War II, the Soviets began a campaign to create an Moldovan ethnic identity different from the one of the Romanians, who were said to be "capitalist oppressors". The Soviet official policy also stated that Romanian and Moldovan were two different languages and Moldovan was written in Cyrillic alphabet, as opposed to Romanian, which was written in Latin alphabet. Along with the other peripheral Soviet republics, Moldova started to move towards independence from 1991 onwards; in August 1991, Moldova declared its independence and in December of that year became a member of the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States along with most of the former Soviet republics. At the end of that year, an ex-communist reformer, Mircea Snegur, won an election for the presidency. Four months later, the country achieved formal recognition as an independent state at the United Nations. The part of Moldova east of the Dniestr River, Transnistria—which is more heavily industrialized and is populated by a larger proportion of ethnic Russians and Ukrainians— claimed independence in 1991, fearing Moldovan unification with Romania. Russian and Ukrainian forces intervened on the Transnistrian side, and remain there. Negotiations between the Transnistrian and Moldovan leaders have been going on under the mediation of European Union, OSCE, USA, Russia and Ukraine. While their emotional ties to the Romanian "motherland" remained strong, and while their visits to Romania were welcome, Moldova did not unite with Romania in 1991. In the early 1990s, the future of Moldova was a source of tension in Romania's relations with Russia. Russian President Boris Yeltsin's government did not want to see one of the former Soviet republics on Russia's frontier joined to another country. A March 1994 referendum saw an overwhelming majority of voters favoring continued independence. In the 2001 elections a pro-Russian Communist party won majority of seats in the Parliament and appointed a Communist president, Vladimir Voronin. After few years in power relationships between Moldova and Russia deteriorated over the Transnistrian conflict. In the following election, held in 2005, the Communist party made 180 degree turn and was re-elected on a pro-Western platform, with Voronin re-elected to a second term as a president. During the 2005 parliamentary elections the Russian Federation tried to influence the election process by intensively favourable coverage of pro-Russian candidates in the Russian mass media and by organizing meetings and agitation campaigns using the Russian CIS-EMO organization (so-called “Elections Monitoring Organization”), which is not recognized internationally as an independent election observer. This organization was proven to have poor records from the previous Kyrgyzstan election. As a response to the security threat, Moldovan authorities denied entry to the Republic of Moldova for the members of the CIS-EMO organization. Some who nonetheless made their way into the Republic were found distributing leaflets and actively participating in the election campaign, despite not having a valid Moldovan passport or any proof of Moldovan citizenship or any permission from the election authority. These members were consequently deported from the country. This action angered the Russian side. As a consequence, Russian-Moldovan ties greatly weakened, and the nation is split between building ties with the West or with Russia. In 1992, Moldova was involved in a short-term war against Russian armed forces and Ukrainian Kazak units. Units of Kazaks (Ukrainian mercenaries) fought, supported by and alongside the Russian 14th Army. The Transnistrian war began with an attack of Russian mercenaries on the Moldovan town of Duba(sari, situated on the eastern bank of the River Dniestr, but not loyal to the separatist regime. Since 1992, Russia has maintained a military force in the eastern regions of the Republic of Moldova. The separatist Transnistrian regime established in the occupied territory did not see any rotation in political power in this area since 1992. The de facto Transnistrian government carried out Russification and discrimination against Moldovans. In the summer of 2004, Transnistrian authorities forcibly closed six Moldovan schools from Tiraspol, Tighina/Bender, and Rîbnit,a that used the Romanian language in the Latin alphabet. 3,400 enrolled children were affected by this measure. Several teachers and parents who opposed the closures were arrested. |
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