Gagauzia - Атлас этнических региональных автономий - Сеть по исследованию идентичности

Description of the autonomy

The autonomous region in Moldova, established in 1994. The Gagauzes define themselves as independent people formed by the Northern Turk tribes in the 10th century. From 1400 to 1812 Gagauzes were under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, and afterward, the area became part of Russia. In 1940, about 80% of Gagauzes were included in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.

The desire for autonomy manifested itself in Gagauzia in the 1980s. After the Declaration on the Freedom and Independence of the Gagauzian People from the Republic of Moldova was adopted in 1990, a sharp conflict arose with the Moldovan authorities. The bloodshed was avoided. Hence, Gagauzia was regarded as an example of a successful resolution of the ethnoterritorial conflict in the post-Soviet space. In 1994, the Moldovan Parliament adopted the Law on the Special Legal Status of Gagauzia (Gagauz-Yeri), which endowed the region with autonomy rights

The share of Gagauz as a titular group is 82.1%, Bulgarians are 5%, Moldovans - 4.8%. Gagauzes are specific in that they are Orthodox Christians speaking the language of Turkic origin; they are also active users of the Russian language. Only 4% of Gagauzians indicated Moldavian (Romanian) as a second language in 2004, compared with 73% who reported Russian as native.

The main mechanism of Gagauzia's influence at the national level is its head, Bashkan of Gagauzia, which is a member of the Government of the Republic of Moldova. The Bashkan is elected by direct vote by all residents of the region and heads the government of the autonomy. Thus, the position of Bashkan does not depend on the results of the elections to the Moldovan parliament.

The foreign policy issues are of vital importance for the situation of Gagauzia within Moldova. Gagauzia is oriented towards Russia and stands out sharply against integration with Romania. In 2014, a referendum was held on the territory of the autonomy, and the majority supported the orientation towards Russia and the Customs Union and not the EU for economic and linguistic reasons.

Autonomy's characteristics

Year of the creation of the autonomy:

Geographic

Where is the autonomy situated:
Autonomy area: km²
Share of the autonomy in the area of the country: %
Autonomy population:the latest census thousands of people
Share of the autonomy in the population of the country: %

Country's characteristics

Level of economic development of the country:GDP per capita in 2015 in current price in $ in $
Political regime in the country:It is based on the Freedom House Index, 2015. All countries of the world are located on a scale from 1 (most free) to 7 (least free). Countries whose ratings fall between 1.0 and 2.5 are “Free”, between 3.0 and 5.0 are "Partly Free," and those between 5.5 and 7.0 are "Not Free."

Economic

Share of the autonomy in the economy of the country:GRP of the autonomy divided to GDP of the country (%) %
Level of economic development of the autonomy:relative to the country (%): GRP per capita of the autonomy divided to GDP per capita of the country %

Ethnic

Share of the dominant in the country ethnic group in the population of the autonomy:in %: population size of the dominant in the country ethnic group divided to overal population size of the autonomy (the latest census; expert estimations) %
Share of the titular ethnic group in the population of the autonomy:in %: population size of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy divided to overal population size of the autonomy (the latest census; expert estimations) %
Ethnic peculiarity:It indicates a key characteristic of autonomy's ethnic identity - language or religion or both
Diversity of ethnic composition:The presence of other (in addition to the titular group in the autonomy and the dominant group in the country) significant ethnic groups in the population of the autonomy

Political

Degree of self-rule of the autonomy:It is based on the Regional Authority Index project that aims at measuring the powers of all the regions in 81 countries. Here the index "tier_selfrule" (2010) is used. It summarizes five dimensions of self-rule: institutional depth; policy scope; fiscal autonomy; borrowing autonomy; and the extent to which a region has an independent legislature and executive. The index takes value from 0 to 18
Degree of shared-rule of the autonomy:It is based on the Regional Authority Index project that aims at measuring the powers of all the regions in 81 countries. Here the index "tier_sharedrule" (2010) is used. It summarizes five dimensions of shared-rule: participation of a region in national law-making; intergovernmental meetings; the distribution of national tax revenues; borrowing; and constitutional change. The index takes value from 0 to 12
The presence of the "kin-state":"Kin-state" is a state whose main population shares the ethnic characteristics of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy
Linguistic preferences:It indicates how the language of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy is learned in secondary schools in the autonomy
Ethnic conflicts:It indicates whether the serious conflicts between the autonomy and the central government as well as between ethnic groups within the authority take place in 2001-2015. The level of conflict is determined on the basis of the annual reports of Conflict Barometer