Gagauz
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The Gagauz are a Turkic people minority of southern Moldova (in Gagauzia) and of southwestern Ukraine (in Budjak) that numbers around 250,000. Along with the Chuvash, Yakut and Dolgan people of Russia, they are the only ethnic Turkic groups that are predominantly Christian (Eastern Orthodox)and some protestant.
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Geographic distribution
Gagauz people have settlements in the Ukrainian regions of Odessa and Zaporizhzhia, as well as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Romania. There are also nearly 20,000 Gagauz living in the Balkan countries of Greece, Bulgaria and the FYROM.
There is a related ethnic group also called Gagauz (or Gacal) living in the European part of northwestern Turkey and in the Republic of Macedonia, who are Muslims.
History
Early history and settlement in Bessarabia
Ancestors of the Gagauz can be traced to the early nomadic tribes, Guzi and Uzi (also called Ghuzz and Uz which are branches of Oghuz). Byzantine written history records that in the 11th century the nomadic tribe Guzi crossed the Danube River and settled in the Balkan regions of Greece and Bulgaria.
Once settled in these new regions, the Guzi people shifted to a sedentary lifestyle and adopted Orthodox Christianity. The ethnic mixes of the Guzi with other Turkic tribes of the Pechenegi, Polovtsi and Kumani are direct ancestors of modern day Gagauzians.
Turkic-speaking tribes of the Nogai Horde inhabited the Budjak Region of southern Bessarabia from the 16th to 18th centuries. Before 1807, a portion of these tribes were forced to abandon Budjak by the czarist government of Russia and resettled in Crimea, Azov and Stavropol.
Between 1750 and 1846, the Russian Empire allocated them land and gave them financial incentives to settle in Bessarabia in the settlements vacated by the Nogai tribes. They settled in Bessarabia along with Bulgarians, mainly in Avdarma, Comrat, Congaz, Tomai, Cismichioi and other former Nogai villages located in the central Budjak Region.
With the exception of a five-day independence in the winter of 1906, when a peasant uprising declared the autonomous Republic of Comrat, the Gagauzian people have been ruled by the Russian Empire, Romania, Germany, and the Soviet Union.
Soviet Union and Republic of Moldova
Gagauz nationalism remained an intellectual movement during the 1980s but strengthened by the end of the decade as the Soviet Union began to embrace democratic ideals. In 1988, activists from the local intelligentsia aligned with other ethnic minorities to create the movement known as the "Gagauz People". A year later the "Gagauz People" held its first assembly which accepted the resolution to create an autonomous territory in southern Moldova with Comrat designated as capital. In August of 1990, Comrat declared itself an autonomous republic, but the Moldovan government annulled the declaration as unconstitutional. The Gagauz national movement intensified when Romanian was accepted as the official language of the Republic of Moldova. The multiethnic populations of southern Moldova regarded this decision with concern, precipitating a lack of confidence in the central government located in Chisinau. The Gagauz were also worried about the implications for them if Moldova reunited with Romania, as seemed increasingly likely at the time.
Support for the Soviet Union remained high, with an almost unaminous 'yes' vote to staying in the USSR in a referendum of March 1991 (Moldovans in Gagauzia boycoted the referendum however). Many Gagauz supported the Moscow coup attempt, further straining relations with Chisinau. However, when the Moldovan parliament voted on whether Moldova should become independent 6 of the 12 Gagauz deputies voted 'yes.' Gagauzia declared itself independent on 19th August 1991, followed in September by Transnistria. The moves prompted the nationalist Popular Front to tone down its pro-Romanian line and speak up for the rights of minorities.
In February 1994 President Mircea Snegur promised the Gaugauz autonomy, though he was against outright independence. He was also opposed to the suggestion that Moldova become a federal state made up of three republics - Moldova, Gagauzia, and Transnistria.
In 1994, the Parliament of Moldova awarded to "the people of Gagauzia" the right of "external self-determination". On December 23, 1994 did the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova accept the "Law on the Special Legal Status of Gagauzia" (Gagauz Yeri), resolving the dispute peacefully. This date is now a Gagauzian holiday. Many European human-rights organizations recognize Gagauzia as a successful model for resolving ethnic conflict. Gagauzia was now a 'national-territorial autonomous unit' with three official languages (Russian, Gagauz and Moldovan (Romanian) ).
30 settlements, including 3 towns and 27 villages, expressed their desire to be included in the Autonomous Gagauz Territory as a result of a referendum to determine Gagauzia's borders. In 1995, George Tabunshik was elected to serve as the Governor (Bashkan) of Gagauzia for a four year term as were the deputies of the local parliament, "The People's Assembly" and its chairman Peter Pashali.
See also
- Conflict in Transnistria and Gagauzia
- Cheveneburi
- Ajarians
- Greek Muslims
- Pomaks
- Pontian Greeks
- Hamshenis
- Torbeshde:Gagausen
fa:گاگاوز fr:Gagaouzes ko:가가우스인 mo:Гэгэузи nl:Gagaoezen ja:ガガウズ人 pl:Gagauzi ro:Găgăuzi ru:Гагаузы