Moldovans Rally For Unity With Romania And Against Pro-Moscow President – OpEd

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Sunday’s demonstrations in Belarus on the centenary of the Belarus Peoples Republic attracted more attention, but a 7,000- person demonstration in the Moldovan capital of Chisinau against that country’s pro-Moscow president Igor Dodon and for the unification of Moldova and Romania may be more significant.

The meeting occurred on another centenary, that of the unification of Bessarabia with Romania in 1918. The organizers styled the event as “a Grand National Assembly,” and it featured sympathic Moldovan and Romanian politicians (news.liga.net/photo/world/14919210-doloy_dodona_v_moldove_mitingovali_za_obedinenie_s_rumyniey.htm#6).

Former Romanian President Traian Băsescu led some 2000 people from Romania to take part in the demonstration.

Participants signed a symbolic declaration about unity with Romania and held up both Romanian and Moldovan flags while shouting denunciations of Moldovan President Dodon. He took to Facebook to call on the police to prevent the escalation of this demonstration. According to reports, some 21 people were arrested despite the meeting being completely peaceful.

The meeting follows and builds on the declaration of more than 130 Moldovan municipalities calling for unity with Romania. They represent “almost 20 percent” of all municipalities in the country, according to pro-unification leaders (charter97.org/ru/news/2018/3/25/284096/).

Paul Goble

Paul Goble is a longtime specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia. Most recently, he was director of research and publications at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy. Earlier, he served as vice dean for the social sciences and humanities at Audentes University in Tallinn and a senior research associate at the EuroCollege of the University of Tartu in Estonia. He has served in various capacities in the U.S. State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and the International Broadcasting Bureau as well as at the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mr. Goble maintains the Window on Eurasia blog and can be contacted directly at [email protected] .

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