Gagauz in Romania

**Gagauz in Romania**
Gagauz in Romania
Modern self-name	Gagauzlar
Abundance and area
	Total: 45 - 3000 (about)
	Romanian part of Dobrogea
Tongue	romanian , gagauzian
Religion	Orthodoxy

Gagauz - are one of the oldest ethnic minorities in Romania . Their settlements are mainly concentrated in Dobrogea (in the southeast of Romania), and Orthodoxy is their religion.

Content

History

According to the 1930 census, not only in Bessarabia a significant number of Gagauzians were recorded, but also in the counties of Constance and Kaliakra . On this map, the Gagauzians are marked with orange dots, followed by the sign G (a black dot is applied to the orange label) or G (orange letter attached next to the orange dot)

Dobrudja and Deliorman are regions in which the Gagauz people have been known since the thirteenth century.

By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the number of Gagauzians in Dobrudja was still very high. During the period when the lands of Bessarabia passed to the Russian Empire (1812), a small part of the Gagauz migrated from Dobrudja to Bessarabia , they were exempted from military service and taxes provided by the tsarist government, and the opportunity to leave the Balkan Peninsula covered in war and gang terror . The remaining bulk of the population in Dobrudja (northeast of Bulgaria and southeast of Romania) assimilated.

Assimilation

The assimilation of the Gagauz greatly contributed to the power of Romania, Russia, Bulgaria. Such processes also occurred during the Romanian “Liberation of Bessarabia” of 1918-1944.

The NKVD of the USSR in the period from 1940-1941 in Bessarabia conducted mass purges among the Gagauzians, under the slogans "enemies of the people", the NKVD officers repressed hundreds of Gagauz families. The Gagauz were first brought to military service in the USSR, during the Soviet occupation, the Gagauz were forced to speak Russian and were forbidden to communicate in their native language. Many Gagauz people then desperately went to Latin America ( Brazil , etc.). Romania was also a supporter of the assimilation of the Gagauz. Romanian leader Antonescu . developed a plan for the deportation of the Gagauz beyond the Dniester in order to resettle the Romanians in their place. Only the defeat at Stalingrad stopped its implementation. Now there are many ethnic Gagauzians living in Romania, but because of the Romanian processes, they consider themselves Romanians.

Settlements

Ethnic map of the Romanian Dobrogea in 1918 (the settlements of the "seaside" Gagauzs are marked in black on the map)

In 1930, the Tulchinsky and Konstanzsky district, the number of Gagauzians was about 1000 people, including 752 people in Konstanz . In the 2002 census, there were 45 Gagauzians in Romania. In Tulcea County , the largest Gagauz settlements are Beidaud, Stéjaru, Adzhigiol and Izvoarele. In the Constance County , the Gagauz settlements are Vama-Veke (Yılanlık), Negru-voda (Kara Ömer), Tetarul (Azaplar), Shipotel (Göl-Punar), Padureni (Nastradin), Topraisar, Cernavoda , Tekirgela, Manga.

Links

Report on the Gagauzes of Romania (article in Romanian)