UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI TRIESTE Sede amministrativa del Dottorato di Ricerca Sedi Consorziate (IUIES) Università degli Studi di Udine - Università di Klagenfurt - Università MGIMO di Mosca -Università di Nova Gorica - Università Jagiellonica di Cracovia - Università Eotvos Lorand di Budapest - Università Babes-Bolyai di Cluj-Napoca - Università Comenius di Bratislava - Istituto di Sociologia Internazionale di Gorizia XXIII CICLO DEL DOTTORATO DI RICERCA IN POLITICHE TRANSFRONTALIERE PER LA VITA QUOTIDIANA TRANSBORDER POLICIES FOR DAILY LIFE EUROPEAN BORDER –THE NEW FORMED IDENTITIES. THE CASE OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA (Settore scientifico-disciplinare: SPS/10) DOTTORANDO: COORDINATORE DEL COLLEGIO DEI DOCENTI RADA UNGUREANU CHIAR.MO PROF. ALBERTO GASPARINI UNIVERSITÀ DI TRIESTE FIRMA:_____________________________________________________ RELATORE CHIAR.MO PROF. ALBERTO GASPARINI UNIVERSITÀ DI TRIESTE FIRMA:_____________________________________________________ ANNO ACCADEMICO 2009/2010 "If you wish to understand persons - their development and their relations with significant others - you must be prepared to view them as embedded in historical context" (Anselm L. Strauss) INDEX CONTENTS…………………………………………………………………….. 5 ACRONYMS…………………………………………………………………… 9 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………… 11 CHAPTER 1: RESEARCH THEME….…………………………………… 13 1.1. Choosing the research theme…………………………………………… 15 1.2. Methodological approach………………………………………………. 18 1.2.1 Studying the identities………………………………………… 18 1.2. 2 Fieldwork…………………………………………………….. 20 1.4. Advantages and limitations…………………………………………….. 23 1.5. The structure of the thesis……………………………………………… 24 CHAPTER 2: THE NATION-BUILDING OF THE MOLDOVAN STATE 29 2.1 Pre-Soviet Era……………………………………………………............ 31 2.1.1. The birth of Moldova (Bessarabia)…………………………… 31 2.1.2. Ottoman period……………………………………………….. 33 2.1.3. Russian Empire……………………………………………….. 34 2.1.4. Great Romania……………………………………………….. 38 2.2 Soviet Era….……………………………………………………………. 40 2.2.1. Moldovan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic…………… 40 2.2.2. Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic…………………………. 44 CHAPTER 3: THE MODERN SITUATION IN REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA 47 3.1 The independence of the Republic of Moldova…........................ 49 5 3.2. A short history of the Transnistrian Moldovan Republic……….. 53 3.3. The Gagauz……………………………………………………… 58 3.4. The Bulgarians…………………………………………………... 64 CHAPTER 4: THE CONFLICT…………………………………………. 65 4.1. The conflict…………………………………………………………… 67 4.1.1. Frozen conflict…………………………………………………. 70 4.1.2. Myth of the ethnic conflict…………………………………...... 74 4.1.3. The geopolitical conflict……………………………………….. 81 4.1.4. Factors which led to conflict…………………………………… 83 4.2. The present “situation of the conflict”………………………………... 85 4.2.1 The actors involved in the resolution of the conflict…………… 86 4.2.2. The objectives of the conflict………………………………….. 88 4.2.3. The strategies of the conflict…………………………………… 89 4.3. The resolution of the conflict…………………………………………. 90 4.3.1. The resolution of the conflict…………………………………… 90 4.3.2. The chronology of the negotiation of the conflict……………… 94 4.3.3 The scenarios……………………………………………………. 99 CHAPTER 5: THE NATIONAL IDENTITY…………………………….. 101 5.1. Nation and nationalism………………………………………………. 103 5.2. The concept of identity………………………………………………. 106 5.2.1. National identity………………………………………………... 110 5.2.2. Civic identity……………………………………………………. 113 5.2.3. Ethnic identity…………………………………………………... 114 5.2.4. Social identity…………………………………………………… 116 5.2.5. Cultural identity…………………………………………………. 118 5.2.6. Personal identity…………………………………………………. 119 5.3. The new created identities at the European border…………………….. 122 5.3.1. Moldovan identity………………………………………………... 127 5.3.2. The “Moldovenism project”……………………………………… 135 6 5.3.3 “Homo Sovieticus”……………………………………………….. 141 5.3.4. Transnistrian people and Transnistrian identity…………………. 143 5.3.5. Collective memory in the creation of the identity……………….. 148 5.4. The language issue……………………………………………………… 153 5.4.1. Moldovan Language……………………………………………… 156 5.4.2. Russian Language………………………………………………… 160 5.5. The mass-media and the internet………………………………………… 163 5.6. The use of stereotypes……………………………………………………. 167 CHAPTER 6: EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL RELATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA…………………………………………… 173 6.1. Relation of the Republic of Moldova and Transnistria………………… 175 6.1.1. Economic relation and “border” cooperation…………………….. 175 6.1.2. The custom stamps……………………………………………….. 176 6.2. The external trade of Moldova and Transnistria………………………… 180 6.3. The conflict settlement …………………………………………………. 188 6.3.1. The European Union……………………………………………… 190 6.3.2. The United States………………………………………………… 193 6.3.3. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe … …… 194 6.3.4. Russia…………………………………………………………….. 195 6.3.5. Ukraine…………………………………………………………… 198 6.3.6. Romania………………………………………………………….. 200 6.4. The role of the Non-Governmental Organizations……………………… 202 6.4.1. The Non-Governmental Organizations in Moldova……………… 202 6.4.2. The Non-Governmental Organizations in Transnistria…………… 203 CHAPTER 7: DATA ANALYSIS……………………………………… …… 205 7.1. The questionnaire and the data analysis………………………………… 207 7.2. Further interpretation …………………………………………………… 230 7 CONCLUSIONS………………………………………………………………. 237 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………….. 243 8 ACRONYMS AP – Action Plan BSEC – Black Sea Economic Cooperation CBC – Cross-Border Cooperation Programme CEE – Central and Eastern Europe CEI – Central European Initiative CIS – Commonwealth of Independent States CMU – the Committee for Moldovanization and Ukrainization CPM – the Communist Party of Moldova CSCE – Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe CSO – Civil Society Organizations EaP – Eastern Partnership EC – European Commission ENI – European Neighborhood Instrument ENP – European Neighborhood Policy ENPAP – European Neighborhood Policy Action Plan ENPI - European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument ESS – European Security Strategy ESDP – European Security and Defense Policy EU –European Union EUBAM – EU Border Assistance Mission EUMM – European Union Monitoring Mission EUSR - European Union Special Representative FSU – Former Soviet Union FTA – Free Trade Agreement GUAM – Organization for Democracy and Economic Development IMF – International World Bank MASSR –Moldovan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic 9 MGB - Ministerstvo Gosudarstennoi Bezopasnosti (Ministry of State Security of Transnistria) MSSR –Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization NGO – Non-Governmental Organization NIS – Newly Independent State OSCE – Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe PCA - Partnership and Cooperation Agreement PRM – Priednistrovskaia Maldavskaia Respublica RM – Republic of Moldova SEE –South Eastern Europe SU – Soviet Union TACIS –Technical Assistance for CIS TMR –Transnistrian Moldovan Republic TRACECA – Transport Corridor Europe –Caucasus-Asia UN – United Nations UNA-UNSO - Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian Nationalistic Self Defence UNDP – United Nation Development Programme UNESCO – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisations UNICEF – United Nations Children’s Fund UNHCR – United Nation High Commission for Refugees UNO – United Nations Organization U.S. – Unites States USSR – Union of Soviet Socialist Republics WHO – World Health Organisation WTO –World Trade Organization 10 Introduction ________________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Before 1989, the Moldovan people have been a single nation, sharing a single, common identity. Now the situation has changed. Some of them consider that they are Romanians, but, due to the Soviet period, they have no possibility to feel the Romanian identity; others consider that they represent a distinct Moldovan nation, which is quite different from the Romanians; for some others, they know that have common ties with Romanians but, because the different evolution of the situation in the two countries, they consider that, today, they represent an independent nation; there are some, especially the residents of Transnistria, who consider that they have nothing to do with Romanians, even with Moldovans, because they represent a new people, distinct from Moldovans, or they consider themselves Russians. And all this is happening in the same country, the Republic of Moldova. Actually, the purpose of this thesis is the fact that on the European border there is a complex phenomenon, a “frozen” conflict, which lasted for more than eighteen years, and, still, a real and certain solution for its settlement does not exist. The conflict creates a security dilemma at the European border, because the Republic of Moldova is a border line between Latin and Slavic culture, between Europe and Russia; that is why it involves more attention from the international actors. As Williams A. shows “Moldova stands as a constant reminder that, even within Europe itself, there are places that are potentially not only economic and political disaster areas but, also, real threats to the wider security of the continent”[Williams 2004: 346]. 11 Introduction ________________________________________________________________________________________________ In general, the states deal with the question of identity and belonging, but the new created Transnistrian identity deals with statelessness. That is why there is a direct relation between the new created political identities and the conflict settlement in the Republic