Of all the self-proclaimed independent states on the territory of the USSR, only Gagauzia managed to do without bloodshed and come to a peaceful agreement with its mother country. But this is far from the only unique feature of the Gagauz.

As you know, it was only officially that the USSR broke up into 15 republics, but in fact a much larger number of territories declared their independence. In particular, on August 18, 1990, the First Congress of People's Deputies of the steppe south of Moldova announced the creation of the Gagauz Republic within the USSR - it was then that most of us learned that there was such a people in the world, the Gagauz, and that this people categorically did not want to “reunite” with Romania and were seeking independence from Chisinau, which was drifting to the west.

However, it soon turned out that this conflict, unlike many others, developed quite peacefully. On December 23, 1994, the Parliament of Moldova recognized Gagauzia as an “autonomous territorial entity” with its center, the city of Comrat, and its leader (in Gagauz he is called “bashkan”, and today this post is occupied by Dmitry Kroytor). Officially, Gagauzia still remained part of Moldova, without customs, new passports and new money. The Gagauz people have something to be proud of: they were the only ones in the entire former USSR who managed to obtain autonomy status without bloodshed and peacefully agree with their new metropolis on the division of powers.

Lately, however, the situation has been slowly heating up: Chisinau would clearly like to return two rebellious territories, Gagauzia and Transnistria, under its direct control, and is currently trying its hand at trying to more or less legally remove the current head of Gagauzia from his post. So far no success. The Gagauz authorities, in turn, strongly emphasize their otherness and demand that official Chisinau send them documents not only in Moldavian, but also in Russian, “the language of interethnic communication.” True, in foreign policy the Gagauz people no longer have to focus so much on Russia, which has made friends with the communist president of Moldova Voronin, but on Turkey. These two countries have indeed always played the leading roles in the history of the Gagauz.

The Gagauz speak a Turkic language, very close to Turkish, but still different, and profess Christianity (and this distinguishes them from all other Turkic peoples, among whom there is a large proportion of either Muslims or pagans). The historical religion of the Gagauz people is Orthodoxy, and recently in the huge Gagauz villages, pointed roofs of Baptist and Pentecostal prayer houses have appeared next to the domes of churches. The Gagauz say that what distinguishes a village from a village is the presence of a church.

Where did they come from, Christian Turks? There is still no exact answer. Probably, this people descended from various nomadic tribes that moved in ancient times along the shores of the Black Sea, primarily from the Pechenegs and Oguzes. It was the last tribe that could give this people its name, “Khagoguz” - “real Oguz”, that is, a genuine steppe dweller who was not subjected to Islamic assimilation. However, these are all theories.

What is known for certain is the fact of the resettlement at the turn of the 18th - 19th centuries of most of the Gagauzes, together with some Bulgarians, Greeks, Albanians, Serbs and Wallachians, from Bulgaria conquered by the Turks to southern Bessarabia (Budjak steppe), which became part of Russia in 1812. By that time, the Gagauz were already Orthodox and actively supported Russia in wars. Religious kinship turned out to be higher than linguistic kinship, and Ottoman policy towards Christians hardened them to the limit.

Today, about 135 thousand Gagauz are registered in Moldova, mainly on the territory of the autonomy, and another 80-90 thousand permanently live in Ukraine, Bulgaria, Russia and Turkey. From Moldova, where unemployment is rampant, they go to work in the same two directions: to Russia and Turkey.

Production in Gagauzia is declining - it is exclusively light and food industries. Local wineries produce excellent products, but there are problems with the sales market. Soviet ties have collapsed, in Europe the prices for local wine are considered dumping - but what kind of dumping is there when workers receive a salary of two to three dozen dollars, and even then from time to time?

Today in Comrat, with significant Turkish assistance, there is a national university. There they read Gagauz books published before World War II in the Romanian Latin alphabet, or during the Soviet years in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet introduced in the mid-fifties, and finally, the most recent ones - in the new Latin alphabet officially approved in the mid-nineties, already on the Turkish model. One alphabet for each generation. There is also a theater named after Mikhail Chakir in Comrat. This was the name of the priest who translated liturgical books and the Bible into the Gagazu language in the thirties, and the same name of his son, who decades later wrote completely non-clerical plays in Russian (for example, “The Body of a Woman”). It is not clear which of them the theater is named after.

Yes, and so as not to forget the most important thing: if you find yourself in a Gagauz house, do not forget to look into the basement, and then you will understand why, at all the sharp turns of history, these people do not lose heart. Batteries of homemade compotes and pickles, and, of course, a barrel for homemade wine, about half a ton. What are we, the owners will tell you, our grandfathers never drank water at all... Be healthy, Gagauzians!

MYSTERIOUS TURKIC CHRISTIANS