First, a brief background - Gaugazians are Turkish people, converted to Orthodox Christianity during 1800s. Modern Gaugazia found itself split between Moldavia and Ukraine. It wasn't problem before 1989, where there was no physical border, but after 1989, both states decided to show Gaugazians who is boss and started to regularly break every promise given to them. Behold this gerry-mander:
That (white blob) was supposed to be promised Gaugazian autonomic republic within Moldavia. Hovever, this peculiar shape, including division into 6 parts, is result of Moldavian government insisting on drawing border only where Gaugazians were big majority, ignoring every area where % of Gaugazians was being brought down by mixed ethnicities or other Turkish peoples, even ones wanting to join the autonomy. So, the promised autonomy, that was understood to cover at least 2x larger area, turned out to be mostly a sham.
Thankfully, Moldavian authorities learned from resentment resulting from broken promise, and did a lot to remedy it: stopped promising anything, choosing just to repress them for the next 20 years, creating even more bitterness. Meanwhile, Russia, while not doing anything for them, remained popular as most of Gaugazians speak Russian and it's pretty much the only place available for them for Gastarbeiter well paid (relatively) work abroad.
And now, current events:
So, brilliant plan of repression, not informing Gaugazians about any plans of the government for EU integration (first EU envoy ever visited Gaugazia only when referendum was already underway, plus government doesn't even bother to translate agreements and road maps they sign into Moldavian, much less Gaugaz), trying to crush referendum by police force and blocking any movement of people and money inside Gaugazia as it was held (including accredited observers) to "stop interference"...Gagauzia Voters Reject Closer EU Ties For Moldova
An overwhelming majority of voters in a referendum held in the autonomous Moldovan region of Gagauzia have voted for integration with a Russia-led customs union.
The chairwoman of Gagauzia's election commission, Valentina Lisnic, said on February 3 that 98.4 percent of voters chose closer relations with the CIS Customs Union.
In a separate question, 97.2 percent were against closer EU integration.
In addition, 98.9 percent of voters supported Gagauzia's right to declare independence should Moldova lose or surrender its own independence.
Turnout was more than 70 percent in the February 2 vote.
Lisnic added that no polling violations had been registered during the referendum. She said ballots in some remote districts of the autonomous region were still being counted.
Gagauzia has a population of about 155,000 people, mostly ethnically Gagauz, Turkic-speaking Orthodox Christians.
Many locals fear that Chisinau's EU-integration agenda masks an intention to unite Moldova with neighboring Romania.
Chisinau initialed an Association Agreement and a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the bloc in November 2013.
As the European integration policy has accelerated, the Russian-supported breakaway region of Transdniester has rumbled increasingly loudly. Recently it adopted Russian legislation, a clear signal of the region's preference for joining Moscow's customs union.
Now Gaugazia's referendum has added to the pressure on the central government.
The central government had tried to stop the referendum, which it sees as a challenge to the country's territorial integrity.
Last month, Moldova's prosecutor-general launched an investigation into Gagauzia's plan to hold the referendum, saying the vote had been rejected earlier by a court in Gagauzia as unconstitutional.
Moldovan Prime Minister Iurie Leanca also told RFE/RL's Moldovan Service on February 3 that the referendum had no legal legitimacy.
"What happened in the region of Gagauzia, unfortunately, represents a defiance of law," he said. "Of course, the referendum that was held yesterday is more than regrettable. The Republic of Moldova will hold parliamentary elections at the end of this year -- the most representative and relevant referendum on various issues, including the most important issue, which is the foreign policy of the country."
In December, Gagauzia's National Assembly adopted a new Electoral Code to bypass a previous court ruling that said the decision to hold the referendum was illegal.
Ahead of the vote, Gagauzia Governor Mihail Formuzal did not hide his personal preferences.
"I think that for the next 10 years it is in our interest to be in the customs union. I think that would enable us to modernize our economy, secure reliable markets for our goods," he told RFE/RL's Moldovan Service.
"And, at the same time, during these years we would carry out the genuine democratization of our society to correspond with the globally accepted standards and democratic norms of a law-based state. At present, unfortunately, we do not have this in our country."
The day after the referendum, on February 3, the head of Moldova's opposition Socialist Party, Igor Dodon, backed the holding of the poll.
"From the beginning the Socialist Party has supported the idea of this referendum in the Gagauzian region," he said. "Despite all attempts to defy this process, to block its funding, despite many difficulties, yesterday the referendum was held. An overwhelming majority of voters participated in this referendum like never before in the history of our country."
On the same day, Mihail Formuzal, the governor of Gagauzia, told RFE/RL that the results of the referendum had sent a clear signal to Chisinau.
"We do not want to suffer," he said. "We want free markets in both Europe and the Russian Federation. We, Gagauzians, a small minority, are telling the central government [of Moldova] -- stop all processes of political integration [with the EU]; take care about economic integration.
That was bound to backfire. But hey, they are our, pro-EU bastards, which means no news coverage, no dramatic missions to pressure the government, and free ignoring of democracy, after all, they were probably steered by KGB (actual accusation from Moldavian press) and most definitely not bitter after 25 years of FREEDOM.
Ironically, Gaugazians in Ukraine are pro-EU for similar reason Moldavian are pro-Russia - they fear new, tightly controlled EU border will slice the region in half, blocking travel and chopping the country in two. Plus, they need to tread lightly, these days it is very dangerous to be a minority right in the middle of right wing bastion most definitely not extremist region, thus paying a lot of lip service.
