Ukraine’s Quest for Mature Nation Statehood

By Vlad Spanu Oct. 01, 2015 Content

 Historical background  Ethnics in  Ethnics in and in the Republic of  From challenge to opportunity Romanians in Ukraine  10th century: Slavic tribes (Ulichs and Tivertsy) from the north, Romanians (Vlachs) from the west, as well as Turkic nomads (, and later ) from the east  Since 14th century, the area were intermittently ruled by Lithuanian dukes, Polish kings, Crimean khans, and Moldavian princes (Ion Vodă Armeanul)  In 1681 Gheorghe Duca's title was "Despot of and Ukraine,” as he was simultaneously Prince of Moldavia and Hetman of Ukraine  Other Moldavian princes who held control of the territory in 17th and 18th centuries were Ştefan Movilă, Dimitrie Cantacuzino and Mihai Racoviţă Renown Romanians among  Among the hetmans of the Cossacks: -1593–1596: Ioan Potcoavă, Grigore Lobodă (Hryhoriy Loboda) - 1659–1660: Ioan Sârcu (Ivan Sirko) - 1727–1734: Dănilă Apostol (Danylo Apostol) - Others hetmans: Alexander Potcoavă, Constantin Potcoavă, Petre Lungu, Petre Cazacu, Tihon Baibuza, Samoilă Chişcă, Opară, Trofim Voloşanin, Ion Şărpilă, Timotei Sgură, Dumitru Hunu  Other high-ranking Cossacks: Polkovnyks Toader Lobădă and Dumitraşcu Raicea in Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyy, Martin Puşcariu in Poltava, Burlă in Gdańsk, Pavel Apostol in Mirgorod, Eremie Gânju and Dimitrie Băncescu in Uman, Varlam Buhăţel, Grigore Gămălie in Lubensk, Grigore Cristofor, Ion Ursu, Petru Apostol in Lubensk Church  Orthodox Church in today's and Ukraine was subordinated to:  Mitropolity of Proilava (modern Brăila, Romania)  Bishopric of Huşi (Moldova)  After the Russian annexation of 1792, the Bishopric of Ochakiv reverted to Ekaterinoslav (modern Dnipropetrovsk)  From 1837, it belonged to the Eparchys of Kherson with its seat in Odessa, and Taurida with its seat in Simferopol Cucuteni-Trypillian Culture 2000 years ago 18-19th Century 20th Century After 1940 Ukraine and its neighbors today Romanians in Ukraine Romanians in Ukraine - level (2004) - 338,427 total  Oblast : 181,800 Romanian speaking population (19.78% of the region's population) out of which 114,600 declared to be of Romanian ethnical minority and 67,200 Moldavians  Zakarpattia Oblast: 32,152 Romanian ethnics—mainly living in Teaciv rayon with 21,300 (12.4% of the rayon population) and Rahiv with 10,300 (11.6% of the rayon population)  (5.2%): 724 declared to be Romanian, 123,751 Moldavian [includes historically Ukrainian and eastern Bessarabian territories] (Budjak – 13%)  Other regions: Kirovograd, Nikolaev, Herson, Ananiev, Balta Romanians in Ukraine - level (2001)  Raion: 91.4% Romanian (ethnicity)  Raion: 64.3% Romanian/ Moldovan  Raion: 51.3% Romanian/ Moldovan  Reni Raion: 49% Moldovan, 18% Ukrainian, 15% Russian, 8.5% Bulgarian and 8% Gagauz schools in Ukraine  Zakarpattia/Transkarpatia, Herta, Northern /Chernotskaya Oblast – Romanian language; In Odessa oblast – Moldovan language (1997)  : 70 schools in Romanian + 15 mixed  Zakarpattia Oblast: 11 schools in Romanian + 2 mixed  Odessa oblast: 5 schools (1945: 62; 1991: 18) Selective Census Data (1817-2004) – E. Moldova//RM1

1 Brezianu, A., Spanu, V., Historical Dictionary of Moldova. 2nd edition. Scarecrow Press, USA, 2004 Ukrainian Ethnics in the Republic of Moldova Schools in Moldova (2007-08)  Romanian/Moldovan language 1154*  Russian 284  Gagauz 52  Ukrainian 50 (~6,000 students)  Bulgarian 30  Mixed 87

* Challenges of teaching minority languages in the Republic of Moldova (in Romanian). Pro Didactica. 2009 http://www.prodidactica.md/files/studiu_ro.pdf Ethnic Ukrainians in Romania Ethnic Ukrainians in Romania  51,703 people, making up 0.3% of the total population (2011 Romanian census )  Maramureş County (31,234), Suceava County (5,698 people), Timiş County (5,953), Caraş-Severin County (2,600), Satu Mare County (1,397), Tulcea County (1,317) and Arad County (1,295)  Majority in 7 communes of Maramureş County; 3 in Suceava County; 1 in Timiş and 1 in Caraş-Severin. From challenge to opportunity  Romania and Moldova: Ukraine’s Western corridor  EU standards on protection of the rights of persons belonging to minorities  Bilateral dialog to come with solutions for outstanding issues  Moldova-Romania-Ukraine triangle – antidote for Russian meddling in internal affairs of the three Thank you!

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