All news
14 Apr, 15:22

Moldova’s Victory bloc demands Gagauzia’s rights be reinstated

Earlier in the day, Moldova’s Constitutional Court annulled a number of legal provisions that bound the country’s prosecutor general to appoint Gagauzia’s prosecutor in coordination with the autonomy’s authorities

CHISINAU, April 14. /TASS/. Moldova’s Victory pollical bloc has demanded that the Constitutional Court revoke its illegal decision stripping the country’s autonomous region of Gagauzia of the right to appoint its prosecutor.

"The Victory bloc demands that law, autonomy, and democratic principles be observed. <…> We view this decision as setting a dangerous precedent. Today, they bar the National Assembly from appointing the prosecutor, tomorrow, they may recognize Gagauzia itself unconstitutional. This is part of the big-picture strategy of the Party of Action and Solidarity’s regime, which aims to eliminate self-government and uproot any dissent in our country," the bloc said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel. "Any attempts to limit the autonomy’s rights may trigger mass protests. People will take to the streets to defend their rights - they will not tolerate their will being ignored."

Earlier in the day, Moldova’s Constitutional Court annulled a number of legal provisions that bound the country’s prosecutor general to appoint Gagauzia’s prosecutor in coordination with the autonomy’s authorities. A review of those provisions was requested by Moldova's Prosecutor General Ion Munteanu, who claimed that they contradicted international norms and criteria of an independent prosecutor general’s office. No Gagauz representatives were invited to attend the court session.

Some 150,000 Gagauz nationals, who represent a Turkic-speaking ethnicity of Orthodox faith, inhabit the southern Moldovan region. In 1990, they proclaimed their own republic, but Chisinau refused to recognize it and sent volunteer units to tame the breakaway region. Bloodshed was avoided after then Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev ordered internal troops into southern Moldova. The conflict was resolved in December 1994 when an autonomy was established there. Back then, Moldova’s parliament adopted a bill granting Gagauzia a special legal status, under which Gagauzians abandoned the plan to form an independent state. The Moldovan authorities acknowledge that they are not honoring these agreements.