The Moldovan nation does not exist. This was the agreement made by the presidents of Moldova and Romania Nicholas Timofti and Traian Basescu. Meanwhile, the census showed that the majority of Moldovans do not consider themselves Romanians. Despite the similarities between the two nations, the historical background to their union as one state is not greater than that for their separate existence.
Moldovan nation does not exist. This was stated by Romanian President Traian Basescu at a meeting with his Moldovan counterpart, Nikolai Timofti in Bucharest. Timofti did not object. Thus a unique situation is observed: the president has denied the existence of the nation he leads.
The meeting held on May 3 at Bucharest had little resemblance to the talks between the two heads of sovereign states. There was a feeling that Basescu was speaking not to his colleague, but one of the governors of the Romanian County. Timofti did not seem to be bothered by this situation. The discussion of the two leaders left doubts that the Moldovan president was defending his country's sovereignty.
"We talked and agreed that Romania and Moldova are two independent and sovereign states populated mostly by Romanians. We are united by the language, tradition, joy and misery the Romanians have been through in the last century. We put an end to the confusion over the Moldovan minority," said Basescu. Here it is: the majority was declared a national minority.
Next, Basescu continued the story of the brotherhood of the two states. He said that the strategic partnership with Moldova will be developed by every Romanian president, regardless of political affiliation. In addition, Romania will support the desire of its eastern neighbor to enter the EU. The fact that Moldova has not been invited did not bother him in the least.
The Romanian leader also said he had presented Timofti a wooden church to be placed in Soroca region of Moldavia, as well as "a million books in Romanian." Apparently, in order to explain to the Moldovan youth that they are in fact young Romanians, Bucharest decided to increase the number of scholarships to Moldovan students in Romanian universities from 5 to 10 thousand.
On his part, Timofti thanked his Romanian counterpart for support and invited Basescu to attend Chisinau with an official visit. In addition, the Moldovan president once again said that Russian peacekeepers should be withdrawn from the territory of Transnistria. Basescu nodded and promised to support Moldova in matters related to Transnistria.
Cancellation of the Moldovan nation is an open invasion of the two politicians in the consciousness of every individual in the area of linguistic and ethnographic science. No one questions the similarity of Moldovans and Romanian languages. As for the nation, it is more than debatable. In the end, Germany and Austria also share a language, but many Austrians do not consider themselves German. Montenegrins speak Serbian, but consider themselves Montenegrins. There are plenty of similar examples.
A census held in Moldova eight years ago, showed that only 2.2 percent of the population consider themselves Romanians, and 75.8 percent consider themselves Moldovans. If we take only the title nation, the Romanian language was named native by 18.8 percent of Moldovans, and the Moldovan - by 78.4 percent. From these numbers it is clear that the Romanians in Moldova are at best a minority.
The current non-identification of the majority of Moldovans with Romanians is due to historical reasons. In the Middle Ages in the area where east-roman languages were spread out, two states have emerged - Moldavia and Wallachia. There could not be a single linguistic norm because Old Church Slavonic was used as a written language. Moldavians and Wallachians were Orthodox, and Moldovans and Romanians are modern Orthodox as well.
In the 16th century, the two principalities became vassals of the Ottoman Empire, and Wallachia had higher dependence. At that point, the eastern roman written language appeared, but it was based on the Cyrillic alphabet. Modern Romanian in the Latin alphabet originated in the late 18th century in Transylvania, part of the Austrian Empire. It was adopted as an official language in 1862.
The fate of Bessarabia, the eastern part of Moldavia, was different. From 1812 to 1917 it was part of the Russian Empire. The Cyrillic alphabet remained there, and Moldovans largely got mixed with Russians and Ukrainians, and adopted the Russian language. Chisinau has become one of the centers of the organization "Union of the Russian people." There were all the conditions for the formation of another nation in Bessarabia.
Coexistence of Moldovans and Romanians within one state lasted for nearly 20 years - in 1918-1940 and 1941-1944. Then the jurisdiction of the Romanian Orthodox Church was extended on Bessarabia, and the name "Moldovan language" was forbidden. In that case not all Moldovans joined Romania. Some of them lived in what is now Transnistria - in the Moldavian SSR as part of Soviet Ukraine, which in 1940 merged along with Bessarabia to the Moldavian SSR attached to the USSR.
In recent decades, Moldovans and Romanians have existed in different states. The Moldovans in the Soviet Union had their own language based on the Cyrillic alphabet. Only on a wave of nationalism in the late 1980s it was replaced with Romanian Latin. However, change in the alphabet is not enough to change the nation. Moldovans in Transnistria are still using the Cyrillic alphabet. Should they also be considered Romanians?
At best, Basescu and Timofti declared the end of the Moldovan nation too soon. At worst, it is wishful thinking. The poor Romania wants to extend its territory. Yet, it has no objective prerequisites for this. As can be seen from the results of the census, Moldova residents have been slow to renounce their own state. If they ever agree to it, there will still be Transnistria that will definitely not want to be part of Romania and the Romanian nation.
Paul Chernyshev
Pravda.Ru