A group of young people from the Territorial Administrative Unit of Gagauzia collected 5,000 signatures from over 25 villages in favor of holding a referendum on gaining independence from Moldova. The list of signatures was submitted to the local legislative body – the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia – that will decide on the subsequent steps. The information was confirmed by the deputy of the Comrat legislature Ivan Burgundji in a special program on Publika TV channel, IPN reports.
According to Ivan Burgundji, the future steps are not yet known. The People’s Assembly will analyze the situation this week. The signatures were collected in a number of settlements and a referendum may be held.
Political analyst Oazu Nantoi said that such a situation was caused by foreign factors. However, the status of Gagauzia was created based on Soviet principles and ethnicity and something like this does not exist in Europe. “The Moldovan state is fragile. We must not cause hysteria. We should focus on the dog days, vacation, the autumn harvest and avoid speculations,” stated the analyst.
Deputy Head of Moldova’s Parliament Adrian Candu said the recent developments in Transnistria, which is controlled by a separatist regime, and in Gagauzia are not accidental. “It seems that somebody tries to pressurize the Moldovan authorities now that we came close to certain irreversible points as regards the integration into the EU,” he stated.
He added that communication exists between Parliament and the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia and Moldova’s legislature will wait for proposals from Gagauzia to discuss them.
Gagauzia is an autonomous territorial unit of Moldova with a special status. It was granted autonomy in 1994.
