MOLDOVA NEEDS SOCIETY CONSOLIDATION - EXPERT

On the Thursday roundtable conference “Ethnic and Language Question in Moldova in the Light of the Association Agreement”, organized in Chisinau by the American Institute in Ukraine (AIU) within the Program “AIU: Eastern Partnership Initiative”, Olga Goncharova, Head of the Assembly of the People’s of Moldova said that Moldovan citizens need a unifying idea, because the country is in need of consolidation.

“There are three issues in Moldova, which have been constantly discussed in the society, contributing to splitting among citizens. These are questions concerning language, history and ethnicity. As a rule, these issues, unsolved since 90s of the last century, become sharper during the election campaigns. Unfortunately, we have not overcome this; the given problems are still discussed within the started election campaign. In addition to these, another issue to be discussed became the country’s external policy”, said Goncharova.

According to her, the country’s authorities are neglecting the opinion of citizens, who do not support the vector of the European integration

“These people are not taken seriously; they are regarded as second-class citizens or even as the “fifth column”. You can not assume that all the Russian-speaking people are against the European integration and divide them by ethnicity depending on the adherence to external policy. I would like that in Moldova all citizens to be equal, regarding themselves as Moldovans of Romanian, Ukrainian or Russian origin. Important is that everybody to be citizens of the Republic of Moldova”, said the expert.

Deputy Corina Fusu expressed disagreement with the fact that citizens are divided on different grounds.

“This is not true and is unacceptable, because it even sounds offensive. Everyone is equal in front of the law. Constitution guarantees equal rights for everyone. And we see that the election campaign has already started and everybody is promoting their ideas”, said Fusu.

Olga Goncharova regards as criminal to take decisions upon country’s strategic orientation without a referendum.

“I agree that the referendum should be conducted not now, but when joining the European Union. Signing the EU Association Agreement, Moldova has just joined a queue to the EU”, said the expert.

NOBODY HAS WRITTEN ABOUT MOLDOVANS AS A NATION FOR DECADES – VASILE STATI

Chisinau, September 18, 2014 (Infotag). For several decades, nobody has written in Moldova about Moldovans as a nation, or about their culture or their present-day identity, Chisinau historian and writer Dr. Vasile Stati stated at the roundtable conference “Ethnic and Language Question in Moldova in the Light of the Association Agreement”, organized in church on Thursday by the American Institute in Ukraine (AIU).

Stati said that not long ago he had accomplished a new big work of his – a book, which he named “The History of Moldavia”.

“I was writing the book without being driven by whatever political or ideological landmarks. I placed all events that happened in the history of Moldavia last 500 years in a chronological order, and supplied necessary comments to them and explanations taken from the historic documents of that epoch. But when I tried to publish the ready book in a Chisinau publishing house, I heard a categorical refusal – because the book did not contain whatever pro-Romania rhetoric so fashionable these years”, said the historian.

Vasile Stati explained such situation as follows: Moldova’s ruling circles and the national intelligentsia position themselves to be Romanians and act in the interests of the neighbor state – Romania.

“Last 5 years, politico-ideological corruption has been reining the republic. All the mass media have been bought up – from petty yellow papers to major television channels. All of them keep broadcasting that Moldovans have no history of their own, no language or culture or traditions. I would like to remind again: for previous 700 years, there had existed only the Moldovan language and the Moldovan ethnos, and there had been not even a mention of Romanians until the second half of the 19th century”, stated the historian.

Vasile Stati referred to a quotation from the farewell interview given to a Chisinau newspaper by ex-Ambassador of the United States Pamela Smith before leaving the republic. She said literally the following: “For the first time in my life I have visited a country, where the power elite works in the interests of a neighbor state – Romania”.

Stati fingered at yet one more paradoxical fact: in the Moldovan Constitutional Court, six of seven judges have the Romanian citizenship.

“I am not indeed challenging any person’s right to have, on legal grounds, two, three or even five citizenships. But tell me, how many citizens of Mexico are Judges of the United States Constitutional Court?”, Vasile Stati asked one of the conference organizers, former US senator James Jatras, the Deputy Director of the American Institute in Ukraine. link