Gagauzia

Who the Gagauz are

The Gagauz speak a form of Turkish with many Slavic words, and are Orthodox Christians. They say they moved into Bessarabia, between the Prut and the Dniester, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when the Russian Empire settled them there as privileged colonists.^[2] Moldova’s 2014 census counted 126,010 Gagauz.^[2]

When the Soviet Union took Bessarabia in 1940, the Gagauz villages were split between Soviet Moldavia and Soviet Ukraine. Under Soviet rule they were Russified, and most of their political leaders still speak Russian.^[2] Gagauzia is Moldova’s poorest region and relies on money from the central government.^[2]

From breakaway republic to autonomy

In the late 1980s many Gagauz came to fear “Romanianization” as Moldovan became the state language. When Moldova declared its sovereignty, the authorities in Comrat announced a Gagauz Soviet Socialist Republic of their own.^[2] In 1992–93 Gagauz paramilitaries clashed on and off with Moldovan local authorities, but the Gagauz stayed out of the war in Transnistria.^[2]

In February 1994 Gagauz leaders dropped their plan for a three-state confederation in return for autonomy. Moldova’s new constitution of July 1994 guaranteed it, and the law on Gagauzia’s special status followed in December.^[2] On 5 March 1995 villages voted on whether to join, and on 28 May 1995 Gagauzia elected its first leader and assembly and chose Comrat as its capital.^[2]

What the 1994 law gives it

The law calls Gagauzia an autonomous territorial unit with a special status, a form of self-determination for the Gagauz, and an integral part of Moldova.^[1] It is made up of villages where Gagauz are more than half the population; others can join by local referendum, and any village can leave again the same way.^[1]

Gagauzia has its own assembly, the Halk Toplushu, and an elected leader, the Bashkan, who must speak Gagauz and sits in Moldova’s government.^[1] It has three official languages and its own symbols.^[1] Moldova keeps control of citizenship, finance, defence and foreign policy.^[2]

“In case of change of the status of the Republic of Moldova as an independent state people of Gagauzia have the right of external self-determination.”^[1]

Looking east

That clause answers a fear many Gagauz share: that Moldova might one day unite with Romania.^[3] On 2 February 2014, while Moldova was moving closer to the European Union, Gagauzia held a referendum that Moldova’s government called illegitimate. According to its election commission, 98.4% backed closer ties with the Russia-led Customs Union, and 98.9% backed Gagauzia’s right to declare independence if Moldova lost its own.^[3]

In 2023 Gagauzia elected Evghenia Guțul, a former official of the party of the exiled businessman Ilan Shor, as Bashkan.^[4] On 5 August 2025 a court in Chișinău sentenced her to seven years in prison for channelling undeclared money from Russia to Shor’s party. She denied wrongdoing, called the case political and said she would appeal.^[4]