Budjak

Budjak or Budzhak is the southern part of Bessarabia, now part of the Odessa Oblast (province) of Ukraine. It is a multiethnic region lying along the Black Sea between the Danube and Dniester rivers and below Moldova.

Name and geography

The area was originally called Bessarabia, while Budjak referred to smaller area of the interior steppe. The name Budjak was given during the Ottoman rule (1484-1812) and derives from the Turkish word "bucak" meaning "corner" or "triangle" referring to the land between Akkerman (Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyi), Bender (Tighina), and Ismail (Izmayil). As Bessarabia came to apply to all of Moldavia east of the Prut River, the name Budjak expanded to cover the southern area that was ruled by the Ottoman Empire. Although the area remains separated from the Republic of Moldova that occupies the remainder of Bessarabia, the term is rarely used, replaced normally with Southern Bessarabia. In Ukrainian, Bulgarian, and Russian, Budjak is called Буджак [Budžak], it is Bugeac in Romanian, and Bucak in Turkish. In English, the area has various been termed Budjak, Budzhak, Bujak, Buchak, or even Budziac Tartary.

History

In the antiquity, Budjak was inhabited by Dacians, Scythians, Celts, and, on the shores, by Greeks.

From the AD 9th to the 12th centuries, the region was under the control of First Bulgarian Empire, subsequently by Golden Horde Tatars. Genoese traders also build several fortresses on the Black Sea coast and on the Danube, while Nogai Tatars also inhabited this region before moving to Dobruja and Turkey. The territory was incorporated into the Principality of Moldavia in 1392 by Roman I, while previously it has been under Wallachian rule during the reign of Mircea the Elder, a prince from the House of Basarab. In 1484, Stephen the Great was forced to surrender the two main fortresses of Chilia (Kiliya) and Cetatea Albă (Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyi) to the Ottoman Empire. The rest of the region was ceded in 1538 following an Ottoman military campaign.

Under Ottoman rule, Budjak, along with Bender (Tighina), was unofficially called "Bessarabia", in honor of the Wallachian prince Basarab I, who previously explored the region. Officially however, the region was not a province by itself but was a part of Silistra (or Özi) Province (eyalet). The region was divided into two sanjaks, Kiliya and Akkerman (Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyi). Some time between 1504 and 1538, a sanjak of Bender and a sanjak of Budjak were added.

During the Napoleonic Era Budjak was overrun by Russia in the course of the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-1812 and Treaty of Bucharest, 1812 transferred Budjak and all of Moldavia east of the Prut River to Russia. With the Russian annexation, the name Bessarabia began to be applied not only to the original southern region but to the entire eastern half of historical Moldavia, while Budjak was applied to southern Bessarabia.

With Russia's defeat in the Crimean War in 1856, a part of southern Bessarabia including Budjak was ceded to the Ottoman vassal state of Moldavia and was joined to the new Principality of Romania upon Moldavia's union with Wallachia in 1862. Following Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, the Treaty of San Stefano and the Treaty of Berlin recognized the full independence of the new Kingdom of Romania but transferred Budjak back to Russia.

After World War I, Budjak, along with all of Bessarabia was joined with Romania and was administered as part of the Ismail and Cetatea Albă counties (judeţ).

In 1939, a secret appendix to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact assigned Bessarabia to the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence and, in June 1940, the Soviets issued an ultimatum demanding the transfer of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. Romania acquiesced and the area was annexed with central and northern Bessarabia forming the center of the new Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic but with Budjak ceded to the Ukrainian SSR. Upon Nazi Germany’s declaration of war on the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Romanians sided with the Axis Powers and occupied the Soviet territory including Budjak, which they re-annexed. The territories were regained by the Soviets in 1944 and, despite Romania joining the Allies in August 1944, were annexed by the Soviets with the 1940 political configuration.

With the fall of the Soviet Union, Budjak is now a part of the newly-independent Ukraine.

Ethnic groups and demographics

The main ethnic groups in Budjak today are Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Russians, and Romanians and the region has historically been home to many ethnicities and religious groups. Muslim, Turkic-speaking Nogai Tatars inhabited Ottoman Budjak until the 18th centuries but many were forced to abandon the region by Russia and resettled to the east.

Like Moldova, Budjak is home to a small minority of Gagauzes, Orthodox Christian Turkic peoples who arrived from the Balkans in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and settled the area vacated by the Nogais.

The Bulgarians of the region are known as Bessarabian Bulgarians and, like the Gagauzes, are descendants of settlers from the Balkans who moved the area vacated by the Nogais.

Budjak was also home to a number of Bessarabian Germans originally from Württemberg and Prussia who settled the region in the early 19th century. A large number cultivated the Budjak steppes west of Akkerman (Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyi) known as "Kronsland." They were deported in Nazi-Soviet population transfers following the Soviet takeover of Bessarabia in 1940. These "Germans from outside Germany", or Volksdeutsche were resettled in areas of Nazi Greater Germany.

Until World War II, the region was also home to a significant number of Jews who were largely exterminated along with most of the Bessarabian Jews.

According to the 2001 Ukrainian Census the population of Budjak numbers 617,200 people. Of these, there is a Ukrainian plurality of 248,000 (40%) along with minorities of about 129,000 Bulgarians (21%), 124,500 Russians (20%) and 78,300 Romanians (13%). Bulgarians are the biggest ethnic group in Artsyz (39%), Bolhrad (61%) and Tarutyne (38%) raions, Russians in the city of Izmail (44%) and Romanians in Reni (49%) raion. Other raions in the region have a Ukrainian majority.

In the Izmail rayon 29% of the population is Ukrainian, 28% Romanian and 26% Bulgarian. It is notable, that in the Izmail raion, the Romanian population increased by one percent since 1989, whereas the number of Ukrainian and Bulgarians is slowly decreasing. This is not because the actual number of Romanians have increased per se, but it is rather because the Romanian population is decreasing at a slower pace then the Ukrainian, Russian and Bulgarian ones.

In the Sarata raion, the Romanian population has increased substantially by about 154%. This is a rather new development and it is probably due to the suppression of Romanians during the Soviet era who were forced to declare themselves as Russians rather than Moldovans.

Districts (Raions)

Raion subdivision of Budjak territory

The historical territory of Budjak is now subdivided into the administrative districts (raions) of Ukraine's Odessa Oblast, with raion centers being:

• Artsyz (Romanian: Arciz/Russian or Historical: Artsiz)
• Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyi (Cetatea Albă/Belgorod-Dnestrovskiy, Akkerman)
• Bolhrad (Bolgrad/Bolgrad)
• Izmayil (Ismail/Izmail)
• Kiliya (Chilia-Nouă/Kiliya)
• Reni (Reni/Reni, Tomarovo)
• Tarutyne (Tarutino/Tarutino)
• Tatarbunary (Tatarbunar/Tatarbunary)
• Sarata (Sărata/Sarata)

Total population of the raions is 481,000 people.

Cities in Budjak

• Izmayil (Ismail/Izmail)
• Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyi (Cetatea Albă/Belgorod-Dnestrovskiy, Akkerman)

Total population of the cities: 136,200 people.